No Solid Ground
by Swinging Cloud
Summary: "Everything is falling apart. Nothing makes sense anymore, and it's only a matter of time before our luck runs out, before one or all of us end up dead. In the crazy chaos that's become my life, I'm only completely certain of three things: My name is Santana. Brittany means more to me than literally the entire universe. And we can't- we can't- lose this war." Brittana. AU. AniGlee
1. Shortcut

**Title:** No Solid Ground (There's Only Us)

**Rating:** M (for swearing, violence and probably eventual smutz, and also there's an inter-species relationship so if that kinda thing bothers you you should probably get the hell out of dodge)

**Disclaimer**: This is a complete crack!fic because I love Animorphs the most and I also love Brittana the most. But I don't own any of it. At all. Ever. :c

**A/N**: With the Animorphs re-release upon the world, there's GOT to be some Animorphs fans out there somewhere…

* * *

My name is Santana.

At least, that's what I want you to think. See, I'm kind of a big deal- some very bad people want me dead. And, well, if they knew who I really was, that's probably how I'd end up. And I'm actually pretty okay with staying alive.

So I can't tell you my last name. Or where I live. Which is sad, really, because if I could tell you where I'm from, I'd totally represent proudly that I'm from Lima Heights Adjacent.

Hahaha, you didn't think I was serious just now, did you? Seriously? I just fucking told you that I can't tell you where I'm from. I'm not stupid- that's _you._

Anyways. Bad shit happens in my 'hood. Really bad shit. And the worst part is, that's the understatement of the year.

Sometimes I wonder if I could go back and do it all over, if I would have never taken that shortcut through the abandoned construction site near my neighborhood with Sam and the others. Life would certainly be a lot less stressful. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. It would be easier. A lot less dangerous, too.

But I'd also have never met Britt.

* * *

It all started that fateful night. I'm pretty sure it was a Friday, but don't quote me on it. It's hard to remember with everything that's happened. But whatever, that's not really important.

I was at the mall, shopping for some new white sneakers after school. I'm on the cheerleading team at my high school- The Cheerios. Lame, I know, but I do it for the social standing. You see, I'm top bitch around there, and it's all thanks to the Cheerios. So I put up with the bullshit… and the skirts. My coach, she's kind of a dipshit. Her name's Roz Washington. And well. She's a little bitchy about what kind of sneakers we are supposed to have. I got a scuff on mine earlier in the week and she demanded I purchase a new pristine pair. But they have to be Nike Air Jordans or whatever-the-fuck brand she preferred, and because you can't just buy those shits _anywhere_, that involved a trip to the mall. And since it's a number one rule that girls, especially _popular _girls, cannot be seen at the mall alone, I decided to drag my best friend, Quinn, along.

"Ugh, Santana, do we have to do this _today_? I have a date with Puck in less than three hours and I still have to go home to do my hair," she whined, fiddling with her iPhone.

"Coach Roz will demote me if I don't get these kicks," I sniped as I analyzed each shelf of shoe at lightning speed. Reebok? No. Puma? Nope. I was an expert at shopping- it's kind of an art form.

Don't judge me.

She ignored my complaint to reply to a text she received, and I spied the Nikes on the opposite shelf of the store we were in. "Found them," I announced, scooping up the pair I needed. I looked around quickly and made eye contact with the store clerk so he would drop what he was doing and assist me.

"Hello, ma'am, may I assist you?" he intoned as he sauntered over. _Why, yes, I thought you'd never ask_…

"This. Size 7. Make it snappy, I have shit to do," I told him as I thrust the glossy white sneaker into his hand. He hurried away to get my shoes like an obedient puppy, and, satisfied, I turned back to Quinn. "Where are you guys going?"

As if there wasn't just a five minute break in our conversation, she replied, "He's taking me to a party." She raised her gaze to mine, her expression brightening. "Actually, do you want to come with? I don't know if anyone I know will be there…"

So Quinn was inviting me to a party only because she was scared of being alone? I inwardly rolled my eyes. "Quinn, I'm already going to the party. Mike's hosting it, remember? He invited practically the whole school."

She shrugged. "Right. Guess I forgot. So you're going?"

"Duh."

* * *

Mike lived in the neighborhood next to mine, just a much nicer one. The two neighborhoods were separated by an old abandoned construction site, which I guess makes sense. Before the housing market crashed there was a huge demand in houses in the area, but now that the economy went down the toilet, the city dropped that project faster than shit. One day there was productivity, the next day it was a ghost town. Cranes and Earthmovers rusted where they sat. The construction site was full of half-finished houses and building materials. It was the perfect place to buy, sell, and do meth, crack and other exciting drugs. It kind of became like the private playground for all the homeless and whacked-out drug addicts. It was their territory, and my parents warned me several times about going near it, especially at night. Not that I'd ever felt the need to. I'd never particularly been into being raped and murdered by some hobos in a meth-frenzy.

On the other side of the construction site was a park, and a lake surrounded by woods. The park was nice, and I liked to go there a lot to sober up or make out with boys after parties before stumbling my way home.

When it was time for the party, I had my mom drive me to Mike's house and drop me off, since it was one of those rare occasions where she happened to be home. I was wearing some tight jeans and an off-the-shoulder blouse. I looked pretty damn fine if I do say so myself. And I definitely do say so myself. I waved my mom goodbye before walking right into the house. I'd done these parties enough to know the routine, and Mike hosted them quite often. He was Asian, so his parents were constantly away doing Asian Business-y things, which left him and his giant mansion of a house free to do whatever he felt like. Mike was on the football team and a genuinely likeable guy, so he always got all the popular kids to come to his parties- and that's where I come in. I was kind of obligated to make an appearance, being top bitch and all. Mike was also in Glee Club, which I didn't understand, but whatever floats his goat, I didn't give two fucks about his affinity for gay things. The downside to that, though, was that he got the _un_popular kids to show up at the parties as well… which explained why Stubble McCripplePants was rolling around in his wheelchair, and why Wheezy was making googly eyes at Sam from across the room.

Just when I thought the party couldn't get any worse I ran into Rachel "Man Hands" Berry and had to actively concentrate on keeping down the alcohol I'd already drank that was threatening to re-appear at the sight of her horrendous outfit.

"Hi, Santana," she said in that overly-cheerful, grating voice of hers.

"Hobbit," I acknowledged with a glare. This bitch was killing my buzz.

She ignored my jab and continued with what she wanted to say. I'm not sure what it was, I spent the minute or so while she was talking staring over her shoulder at a spot of lint on the person behind her's jacket. Something about a club called "New Directions."

"Fascinating," I said with too much enthusiasm. She finally caught on, shot me a dark look, and stormed off. I smiled to myself. That made my night a little better.

The party continued to go downhill when the Glee kids wanted to play Spin the Bottle. That's when I decided it was my cue to leave. I found Quinn standing in the corner of the kitchen on the phone with her mom. They were arguing angrily and she had tears in her eyes. I'd have to remember to talk to her about that tomorrow. I waved to her slightly. She didn't acknowledge my presence so I just turned on my heel and left.

When I reached the front lawn I noticed Puck, Sam, Wheezy, and some gay kid standing in the grass. Puck grinned deviously at me.

"You walkin' home?" he asked, his eyes glinting mischievously.

"Nah, thought I'd come stand on the lawn like a _loser_."

"You can walk home with us, Santana," Sam said with an encouraging smile. God, his lips were _huge_. I couldn't stop staring at them.

"Have your lips always been that big?" I muttered.

Puck laughed. "If you're going to keep spouting insults like _that,_ I'm gonna come along just for the laugh factor."

I glared at him. "I'm not sure if you should, I'm trying to _avoid_ wild animals, not attract them with the carcass on top of your head."

Puck wisely shut up while Wheezy stifled a laugh. I raised an eyebrow at her and she raised one back in challenge. I decided in that moment that I kind of liked her.

"I'm walking Mercedes back to her house," Sam explained. "She lives in your neighborhood, right? You shouldn't head back alone, it's too late. You can walk with us-"

"All right, all _right_, _God_, just _stop talking_," I groaned.

Sam looked taken aback for a moment before I gestured for him to lead the way.

The gay kid stepped forward shyly for a moment. "Do you mind if I walk home with you guys?" he asked. At Sam's smile, he visibly relaxed, but kept a wary eye on me and Puck.

And that's how the five of us ended up walking back to my neighborhood on that Friday night.

* * *

It was Puck's fault that we ended up in that construction site. He teased us and called us chicken and did everything an immature boy who was insecure about his masculinity needed to do to prove to himself in whatever warped dimension his brain lived in that he was a real man- in fact, no man was manlier- because he was not afraid of the construction site and we were. So of course we had to prove him wrong. No one calls me afraid and gets away with it. I live in Lima Heights. No crackhead is gonna scare me.

(I actually was pretty fucking terrified. I truly doubted Puck could live up to his bravado, but stupidly I followed him anyways. Biggest mistake ever.)

One might look at us and go, oh, of course that seems likely- a gay pansy who could probably rock heels better than I could, a fat black bitch, a dude with a dead opossum on his head, a smoking hot cheerleader, and a guy with lips that could swallow the planet Mars hanging out together. Totally normal to be walking through an abandoned construction site at an unsafe hour. Right.

I walked at a brisk pace, ignoring as Puck and Sam argued about whether Batman could beat Spiderman in a fight. Gay Kid walked along, staring at the sky- okay, weirdo- and Wheezy kept making attempts to initiate a conversation with me. But I couldn't be bothered with that, damn it- I had to listen for signs of approaching crackheads!

As we reached a wide open area that had been cleared away for a house that hadn't been started yet, Gay Kid suddenly pointed at the sky and shouted, "Look!"

I glared at him, trying to keep my focus on the possible attack of hobo rapists because I was absolutely sure they would go for me first. But I let my eyes flicker up to where he was pointing for a moment, and I gasped.

"The fuck?"

The rest of them made similar noises at the sight of the blue light streaking across the sky. It seemed like it was coming straight towards us. Actually, it _was_ coming straight towards us.

"Shit! Hide!" Puck hissed. I looked around wildly before noticing a huge cement pipe and peacing the fuck out of there and behind it, with the other four kids right behind me. I heard a hissing noise and a loud thud and chanced a peek over the edge of the cement pipe.

There, in the clearing, was a spaceship.

A fucking _spaceship_. Like from _space_.

Can you believe that?

I sure as hell wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been looking at it, but I'm telling you, shit was right there in my face.

"The fuck," I croaked again, and Puck looked at me, his eyes wide and a slight grin on his face.

"That's a fucking spaceship!" he whispered excitedly.

"No shit," I hissed.

He reached to get his phone out but I stopped him. "What the fuck are you doing? We need to get out of here! What if they are like _Battle: LA_ aliens?"

"And what if they're like _E.T._? Come on, Santana, this is the first time aliens have come to Earth! We can't pass up this opportunity!"

Just then I heard the door of the spaceship cracking open.

"Okay, fuck, for real, we've gotta go," I whispered pleadingly.

"I agree with Santana," Gay Kid said.

"How the fuck do you know my name?"

_**[I will not harm you.]**_

I froze. That shit was in my head. Like, I heard it. But I didn't _hear_ it. By the looks on Wheezy and everyone else's faces, they heard the same thing.

"How do we know that?" Puck called loudly.

"_Puck_!" I hissed.

_**[You don't. You will just have to trust me.]**_

I peeked back over the wall. "Shit," I breathed. The alien had exited the spaceship and was standing braced against the side of it, clutching his chest. Or, rather, what I assumed was his chest. Look, I don't want to get too detailed here; basically he kind of looked like a centaur. But. More delicate. Like with a deer body instead of a horse one. And his ears were deer-ish. He had no mouth, and an extra pair of eyes on little stalks on top of his head. He was kind of cute, I guess. Then I saw his tail. It was thick, and powerful, and ended in like, a pointed blade. Kind of like a scorpion. Oh, and he was _blue._

I could hear his breathing; it was definitely labored. I'd spent enough time volunteering at the hospital with my dad to know that he was in severe pain. He raised his head and his main eyes caught mine.

_**[I am Willi-Amschu-Ester… and I'm afraid I will not be alive much longer**_**.]**

"What? No! You can't! You're the first alien to make it to Earth," Wheezy said. Who knew she could get all sympathetic?

_**[I will die,]**_ Willi-Whatever confirmed, **[_b_**_**ut I am not the first alien on Earth.]**_

"Shit," I repeated again as I felt my stomach drop.

I was kind of dreading he'd say that.

* * *

**AHAHA I can't believe I'm writing this story. I must be the lamest person in all of creation.**

**But I will be updating it every Monday, so stay tuned! XD**


	2. Transformers

**A/N**: **Hello again! It's Monday, so you know what that means... Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter! (and an extra-special shout-out to my lone reviewer, you're the living end!)**

**Okay, well, on with the story! :D**

* * *

It was definitely the last thing I expected to hear: that there were other aliens on Earth. But now that he'd mentioned that key detail, there was no way we could just walk away. We were all intrigued, all dying to know what he was talking about. I don't think we could have walked away even if he hadn't mentioned other aliens. How often do people think about life on other planets, anyway? Can you honestly say you wouldn't have stayed to hear him out, too?

Puck approached first, leaping over the cement pipe and cautiously strolling up to the panting alien. I followed soon after, my pride and bravado lasting only so long as to ensure he wasn't going to get killed alone. I'm dumb enough to get killed, too, I guess.

Willi-Whatever told us about the Yeerks- parasitic aliens that crawl into your brain through your ear canal. Ain't that some _Star Trek_ shit? It certainly explained why my mom had taken my credit card away. What person who wasn't controlled by evil aliens would do that? The alien mentioned that, because the Yeerks have access to the brain and its memories, they can act, look, and sound just like a person, making it impossible to tell who was a Controller and who wasn't at face value. (But that didn't deter my theory about my mom.)

Puck tried to film the alien on his iPhone, but Mercedes smacked him upside the head, preaching about respect and inappropriateness until he begrudgingly put it away.

The alien told us proudly that he was part of a race called Andalites, who fought the Yeerks' expansion into the universe. I tried to pretend that I wasn't paying attention but I'm pretty sure I ate that shit up. I imagined epic space battles, Andalites fighting against Yeerks in foreign bodies straight out of _Prometheus_… He told us about some other species and shared visions with us through his mind-speak, but I was still imagining glorious battles. Sam looked like he was on the verge of a nerd-gasm, though.

_**[I don't have much time,]**_ the Andalite said at last. _Well why the fuck did you talk for so long?_ He instructed Sam to enter his ship and retrieve a small blue cube, which Sam did while we stood outside awkwardly with the alien. I supposed asking him how he liked Earth probably wasn't a good idea, considering we were posted up in the middle of the worst area of the entire city, representing Earth with broken crack pipes, used, discarded drug needles and piss and vomit smells everywhere. Instead I bit my tongue lightly.

When Sam returned with the cube, the Andalite took it and held it in his palm. I noticed for the first time that he had seven fingers. Weird. _**[I can give you the means to fight the Yeerks, if you wish,]**_ he said in our heads.

"Woah, _fight_? I was planning on just using my information to _avoid_," I blurted, raising an eyebrow at him.

"What kind of _means_?" Gay Kid asked warily. Stupid kid, sounding all sensible.

**_[The power to_ change,]** the Andalite said mysteriously. _**[I can give you the power to change your bodies into any animal you can touch.]**_

"Say whaaaat?" Wheezy said. "Any animal we can _touch_? What do you mean?"

_**[You must touch the animal to acquire its DNA pattern,]** _Willi explained. _**[Then, focus and let the change happen, and you will become that animal.]**_

"Holy fuck, it's like _Transformers!"_ Puck said excitedly.

"I don't think it's _quite_ like that," Gay Kid said. Fuck, I really need to learn his name.

"Yeah, it's more like-" Sam started but I cut him off.

"Can we focus?" I snapped, gesturing impatiently to the Andalite. "The guy's running out of time." They looked sheepish for a moment before we all turned our attention back to the Andalite. "What's the catch?" There had to be one. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that there's always a downside.

_**[You may only remain that animal for two hours, or you will be trapped in that form forever.]**_

See? What did I tell you… Hold up, two _hours_? Why would anyone want to be an animal for _more_ than two hours?

"I say 'fuck yeah'!" Puck, of course. No one else would say something that stupid. "Turn into animals? How fucking cool would that be?"

Okay, I had to admit it sounded pretty freaking cool. But as Peter Parker knows, with great power comes great responsibility… Shit, I've spent too much time with Sam already.

"HOL' UP," Wheezy interjected. "This shit is for _real_. These are A-LI-ENS- aliens that snatch people's _bodies_! We shouldn't take this power unless we gon' fight, and that is a _serious_ commitment."

Well, thanks, Adverse Aretha, for pointing out the bad shit. But she had a point. I sighed. "She's right."

"We should decide as a group," Sam stated, nodding towards each of us.

"I'm for it," Gay Kid spoke up immediately. "Why not?"

"Because we could _die_," I hissed. He shrugged, and I glared at him.

"I already said 'fuck yeah'- let's _do_ this shit," Puck said defiantly, giving me a smirk.

"Mercedes?" Sam asked softly. For a moment I wondered who he was talking to, then I remembered that her actual name wasn't 'Wheezy.'

"It would be cool to turn into animals," Mercedes admitted. "And better to have some power than nothing at all; those aliens are here already."

Sam nodded.

"Yes!" Puck grinned at me. "Come on, Satan, you know you want to."

I'll always remember that moment; it was a startling moment of clarity, where time slowed down and I took in each one of their hopeful expressions. It almost seemed like the gravity of the situation wasn't real, yet, I felt an immense pressure on me, like there was no turning back once I said 'yes.' And I was right- there wasn't, at least for me. I often look back on that moment and relive my conflicted feelings, wondering if I would have done things differently if I had known then what I do now.

I looked at them, at this sad, pathetic group that I was now involuntarily a part of, and shrugged weakly. "I'm outnumbered, anyways."

"You can walk away," Sam offered quietly. He met my eyes- he was giving me an out. I smiled sadly at him; despite our rocky history, he really was a decent person and always treated me with kindness. "No one would judge you."

"'Cept me," Puck countered.

I rolled my eyes. "And miss the chance to be a superhero? Fuck that, I'm not leaving the fate of the world to _Puck_."

"Mr. Alien? We'll do it," Sam said, straightening up proudly. I gave a tiny smile at his behavior, like he was living out some science-fiction roleplay of his.

_**[Then place your hands on the cube.]**_

It felt weird, accepting the power. Not physically, per se… More like I expected something to happen, and nothing did. I only felt a slight tingle, but it was a let-down from the huge explosion or surge of power I was expecting based off of my limited knowledge of these types of surreal situations. Didn't Bruce Banner become the Hulk through an _explosion_?

Shit, there I go again.

Within moments of us pulling our hands away, we heard another spaceship approaching- it was a Yeerk ship, which we figured out by the way Willi snarled, **_[Yeerks!]_ **in our brains.

We didn't wait around for them to find us. We high-tailed it out of there as soon as it landed, afraid they might spot us from the air. We felt bad leaving Willi, but he assured us he was as good as dead anyways. We waited until the Yeerk ship was settled, deploying people, and took off- but not before recognizing our principal: Sue Sylvester.

* * *

I woke up the next morning hoping I'd dreamt the whole thing. Unfortunately, all of the memories surfaced so it was harder to convince myself it was all a dream. Especially when Mercedes was at my front door.

"The fuck do you want?" I asked hoarsely. Her knocking must've been what woke me up. I never hated the fact that my parents weren't usually home more than in that moment. But with my luck they would've invited her in to wait anyways, so I was fucked either way.

"I thought we could hang out," she said honestly, offering me a nervous smile.

I stared at her incredulously. "Seriously?"

"Well, I thought that after what happened-"

"You couldn't call first?"

"I don't have your number."

Of course she didn't. We weren't _friends_.

"Can I come in?" she asked timidly.

I looked dumbly at her, then around at my house, which was immaculate, as always, and hesitated. I really didn't want to deal with this first thing in the morning. But I guess I had signed up for this shit last night, so I moved to allow her entrance. "I guess."

She stepped inside and we went into the kitchen.

"Did you try it yet?" she asked carefully, looking left and right like she was expecting someone to sneak up on her.

"Try what?" I asked nonchalantly as I got myself a glass of water, purposefully not offering her one. Maybe she'd leave sooner if I didn't.

I turned around to catch her meaningful look and sighed. "No." I was _not_ a loser who spent my free time turning into animals, no matter how cool it sounded.

Okay, so maybe I secretly was, but I wasn't going to let her know that. And saying it was lame would distract from the real issue I didn't want to face yet- if I turned into an animal, that meant last night was real, and I couldn't brush it off as a crazy dream.

Suddenly it dawned on me what she was asking. "Did _you_?" I asked, giving her a suspicious glance. I kept the curiosity out of my voice.

She nodded. "Yeah, this morning…" she paused, as if debating whether or not to tell me, but finally she just gave in. She must've been dying to tell somebody. "It was so _cool_! It was like one minute I was _petting_ my cat-"

"-Wanky," I purred.

"-and the next minute I _was_ a cat. It was the most amazing feeling, like when my hands-"

"Okay, stop right there. It _works_?" It wasn't a dream? Fuuuuck.

She nodded again, a little more excited, a genuine smile on her face. "Yeah! You should totally try it. I mean, there's nothing like it, at all. I couldn't even believe it at first. I can't believe you _haven't_ tried it."

"Well, I don't exactly have any animals to acquire," I admitted.

"None? Not any?"

Well, there was this alley cat… But fuck if I wanted to transform for the first time around _Wheezy_.

Shit, I need to stop calling her that or we will probably not have a long friendship… Okay and now I have to convince myself that that's a bad thing, too. Ugh, these people expect too much out of me.

She looked puzzled at my internal conflict. "You could use my cat," she offered, smiling again.

"I'll find something," I said quickly, resisting the urge to say "wanky" again. _But first, I have to get rid of you. _We chatted for a few minutes before I made up some story about how I had to do something.

Once she was gone, I took a deep breath.

Now to find my animal.

* * *

Lord Tubbington was a cat who lived in an alley near my neighborhood. I once heard a young girl who lived down my street call him that while she was feeding him a piece of bologna one day, and I remember outright laughing because the name suits him. He's gotta be like the fattest cat alive. He's gray, a normal tabby, but weighs 200 pounds.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly, but he seriously is huge. He has a lot of people who feed him on my street. I sometimes wonder if they feed him other cats, with him being so large and all.

"Here, Tubbs," I cooed softly as I poked around in the alley. I had a slice of lox in my hand that I'd stolen out of the refrigerator with which I was hoping to lure the Lord of Blubber to me. My dad was a fan of getting his omega-3s and kept it in the house- I couldn't stand the stuff but this actually worked out to my advantage.

I heard a soft meow and spied the furry blob lying in a small sliver of light that shone in between the buildings. He made no attempt to get up, eyeing me with an expression that made me think he expected me to bring my offering to him. In a way I was glad- he'd be easier to catch this way. I approached him slowly and cautiously, holding out the slab of lox in my right hand and watching his indifferent eyes for any indication that he was about to waddle away.

I got within arms reach and crouched down, holding the slice in front of his nose. He sniffed it delicately and gave me a look as if to say, _Really?_ and turned his head away. Picky bastard.

I dropped the slice at His Highness's front paws and stretched out my left hand to touch his fur. For an alley cat, he was surprisingly sleek and soft, and for a moment I felt stupid as I petted him.

What now?

I tried to remember what Mercedes had told me about her experience once she had started talking again. And I remembered what the Andalite said about focusing.

"This is stupid," I muttered, but obediently closed my eyes and kept stroking Lord T's soft fur. I concentrated on the feel of his squishy, pillow-y body beneath my fingers, and felt his breathing slow slightly. I opened my eyes to study him; he seemed almost like he was in a trance.

"Okay, weird," I said softly. I paused in my stroking, wondering if I'd finished acquiring him. I petted him a few more times for good measure and then stood up and moved away. Lord Tubbs didn't move and for a second I wondered if I'd killed him. But then a few seconds later his eyes snapped open and okay, I breathed a little sigh of relief. Just because he was an insufferable prick doesn't mean I wanted him to die, all right?

I walked back to my house, thinking about the way he watched me, almost as if he knew-

Okay, ugh, what the fuck am I saying? Get it together, Santana, he's just a fucking cat!

I shook my head. I didn't feel any different, but somehow I knew that I had acquired Lord Tubbington's DNA. When I got to my room, I locked my bedroom door, even though I knew no one would be home for hours. I turned my clock away from my bed so that it was clearly visible- no way was I getting trapped as The Fattest Cat to Have Ever Existed forever. I remembered what Mercedes said about transforming with clothes, so I stripped down to my underwear and sat on the carpet.

At first I felt silly, but then I closed my eyes and thought really hard about Lord Tubbington. I imagined his fur, how silky it was beneath my fingertips. I imagined his tail, the way it swished as I approached him. I thought of his inquisitive expression when I offered him the salmon, and when I opened my eyes, I realized I wasn't myself anymore.

* * *

Being a cat is hard to describe if you've never been one. And since I'm almost a thousand percent sure that you've never been one, I'll try my best to tell you what it's like.

I felt _arrogant_. Like I was the shit, and I knew it. I mean, I feel like that all the time anyways, but it was almost to a new level. Stuff that mattered to the human me didn't matter to the cat me. I felt like I had endless power and energy in my muscles- let's face it, cats can jump pretty high and don't tire very easily. Even being a fat blob who waddled rather than walked, the feeling of effortlessness was the same. My senses were heightened. I could smell things I couldn't as a human. And those smells _mattered_ to my cat brain. The tiniest movements were amplified in my vision. I saw a fly and lost it chasing it around the room because I was way more focused on the way things moved.

Honestly? I dicked around for probably an hour in that cat body. The experience was completely unreal. When I finally noticed the time and decided I'd had enough and came back to myself, I was still buzzing. It was incredible.

I now knew how easy it could be to be lured into a transformation for longer than the allotted two hours and become trapped. But with that knowledge, I also knew how to guard myself against it, because there was no way I was going to make that fatal mistake.

* * *

I remember that I tried to hang out with Quinn that weekend, but she was acting weird. It had raised my suspicions initially, and it was only after we had decided as a group to do surveillance on her that we discovered that both of her parents were Controllers, but she wasn't. It brought back every minute detail that I'd noticed recently, about how she'd been growing distant, that she'd been fighting with her parents a lot, and that she'd been hanging out more and more with a group of rebellious bitches called The Skanks in retaliation to her inner pain at the conflict. I'd never say it out loud, but it kind of broke my heart a little.

Quinn and I hadn't been extremely close, but we were friends out of convenience and we did care about each other. We recognized something in each other that was also in ourselves. Neither of us got close to people, we weren't all touchy-feely, and we didn't pry into each other's business. We were both in Cheerios, and we used each other to get to the top. She eventually quit cheerleading once she joined the Skanks, and with my new obligations to my _Transformers_ (Puck had taken to calling us that, what an absolute _moron_) friends and stopping the Yeerk invasion, our friendship deteriorated even further.

Her story, however, touched something inside of me. It made me want to fight. Those Yeerks, they had done something to Quinn's family that she might never understand. And even though she and I weren't really speaking anymore, and she would never know about _me_, I told myself I was going to do whatever it took to stop the Yeerks. For Quinn. And for every other person that had their perfect family ripped from them by those slimy aliens unknowingly.

We all found our reasons for fighting. Puck had his younger sister to look out for. Plus the cool factor had him hooked. He had been all for coming out to the public and reaching superstar status, until he was reminded what happened to people who opposed the Yeerks- execution. The Yeerks had no rules of engagement, no code of ethics to live by. They wanted our bodies (wanky, I know) and they would do anything to get them. They didn't care how many people died, we were just vessels to them. And that reality is what made us keep ourselves secret.

That didn't stop him from being dumb and immature though. He claims he didn't, but I know he spent a lot of his free time spying on girls in the locker room as a creepy bug. How lame is that? I'd be grossed out except it wasn't anything of me he hadn't seen before. I was more concerned about my privacy. I called him out on it and he promised he'd only do it at the college campus, which I knew was the best I was going to get from him. Pervert.

Sam also had his family to motivate him. He had two younger siblings and two hard-working parents that were struggling to make ends meet. But even if he didn't have those things, I knew Sam would've still chosen to fight. Because he's a decent person, and he cares about people, and that's what decent people who care do. They fight for people who can't.

Mercedes, I don't know, I guess she picked up the whole Mother Earth strongblackwoman vibe or something, because she preached about animals and the environment for a good solid minute. The Andalite, before he died, had shown us a vision of what the Yeerks do to planets after they conquer them, and I think the sight of the desolate, utterly gray and demolished landscape really got to her. None of us wanted that to happen to Earth, but she took it a little more personally.

And Gay Kid (whose name is Kurt, by the way)… We found out pretty early on that his step-brother, Finn, was a Controller. We had followed Sue Sylvester after school for a week straight and discovered that she was the head of a Yeerk-run organization called New Directions. It wasn't hard to learn that almost all of the "full members" were Controllers. We observed Finn at several New Directions meetings, along with that obnoxious girl Rachel, and after following him for three days, we watched him disappear through an entrance to the Yeerk Pool. (Yeerks have to leave their host bodies every three days to soak up some kind of vitamins. Sam tried to explain it to me but I'm pretty sure I couldn't stop staring at his mouth. The important thing is that the Yeerk Pool is where they feed, and the three days thing. Got it?)

Kurt was pretty devastated, but he quickly was able to assess that the Yeerks wanted his father, Burt. Burt was a high-ranking politician and was running for governor. More importantly, it looked like he stood a really good chance of winning the election. So the Yeerks sent Rachel after Finn. It made sense. Finn was also the quarterback of the football team, so he was popular and had a lot of influence over the other kids in school. He had quit the football team recently, which drew a lot of attention, and a lot of questions as to what could be more important to him than football, when the kid used to be all about it. Answer those questions with "New Directions" and the Yeerks couldn't have planned it better. It was him quitting that made Kurt go back and question his state of mind.

We all felt like hot shit, doing all the spy surveillance crap we were doing. It was exhausting leading a double life, though. With Cheerios added in it felt like I was leading a triple life. But I wouldn't give up Cheerios- I had to keep up some semblance of normalcy. Besides, with Quinn gone, I was a shoe-in for Head Cheerleader. Plus the status of being in Cheerios gave me excuses to go to parties and keep a watch on who was becoming a Controller and who wasn't, without having to do it as a creeper or whatever. The more time I got to spend in my own body, the better.

We had thwarted some Yeerk plans we discovered with the help of what Sam called our "avatars." We had gone to the zoo to acquire some serious animals, because let's be real, I doubt we were gonna meet any lions or tigers or bears on the street or in a petting zoo. And I didn't really think the Yeerks were going to be scared of Lord Tubbs.

We had transformed into birds and flew out to the Metro Zoo after hours, and between me and Puck we managed to break into that shit, no problem. Once we got access to the restricted feeding areas of the habitats, it was just a matter of going through the door and acquiring something that could mutilate us and not think twice about it. The hardest part was figuring out which animals we wanted. Well, _they_ did. _I _had already picked out my avatar and had done all the necessary research ahead of time.

What? I just wanted to be prepared.

We were strolling down the hall, reading off all of the "Caution! Dangerous animals!" signs that described which animal was where, when I said, "It's a shame fish can't live on land, or be very useful in a fight, Trouty Mouth. I'm sure you'd feel more comfortable in a body with lips similar to your own." Sam answered my smirk with a scrutinizing look and Puck laughed.

"I'd say you could transform into a skunk, Puck," I told him, "but you already have a dead one on your head."

After that he shut up.

We acquired our avatars. When Sam chose a gorilla I told him it was the "next best thing" to a fish. To Puck's wolf, I commented that he was "a mangy dog anyway." Mercedes ended up with an elephant, and I told her that she finally found something to match the size of her attitude. Kurt ended up with some kind of raptor, an eagle or something. He told me but I tuned it out, too excited about my own avatar to even make a snarky comment.

I was a King cheetah. I mean how cool was that? Cheetahs are fierce and you can't fuck with them. They're the fastest land animal, but still retain their grace and delicate demeanor. I had to admit that after being Lord Tubbington, a larger version of him was appealing. I didn't exactly want to bulk up to the size of a tiger or a lion, but I wanted to retain the badassery that a big cat exudes. As a cheetah I could fight, but I could also evade and escape. It was perfect. And I think it even knew that we were similar, because it didn't give two fucks about me acquiring it. It must've known how badass I was the minute I opened the door and strolled in like I owned that habitat and every cheetah in it.

See? Told you I was prepared.

* * *

Sam lived on the edge of town, so we usually met at his house. He had a moderately small house that was next door to a huge agricultural field owned by the county. We felt it was pretty safe out in those corn fields, since it was so far from the city and Yeerks had to return to the pool every three days. (You remember that, right?) One thing I learned about Yeerks is they were creatures of convenience and had strong self-preservation instincts- none of them were going to risk being cut off from their lifeline by getting lost out in those fields. Beyond the fields were more woods, but they were wild, not the neatly cultivated and controlled ones that were on the other side of the park near my house. You could get lost in _these_ woods for days and no one would find you.

We were there on the edge of the corn field near the woods one night when we found her. Or rather, she found us.

"Look, I'm just saying be careful," I said. Kurt had been spending a lot of time as a hawk lately. He said it made him feel free or some shit. I mean, I could relate but I still couldn't choose being an animal over a human. And especially not as something as lame as a _bird_. I was mainly concerned that he was going to forget the key rule of transforming- better get your kicks in two hours or less, or have fun eating live mice for the rest of your miserable fucking life.

I liked being an animal sometimes. There's no feeling like the sleek power and speed of a big cat, especially my cheetah, and especially when stalking towards a target- the look of fear, the way I can smell it on them; the way they turn to run- futile, of course- almost in slow motion compared to how fast I can move… It was a step further than being top bitch at the school, and the power and adrenaline rush was even better than tearing down and humiliating losers with my vicious words. As much as I enjoyed it, there were a lot of things about being human that I wasn't ever going to be ready to give up. I'd rather die.

"I _am_ careful," Kurt muttered.

"Not careful enough," I snapped.

"Santana," Mercedes started in a warning tone that indicated she thought I should leave it alone.

"No, he needs to know," Puck chimed in. "We are a team. If he gets trapped as Paulie that's one less of us against the endless numbers the Yeerks have, and we're too few as it is. We'd be even more fucked."

"We can't lose," I agreed. "I'm not keen on being a casualty to some _Invasion of the Body Snatchers bullshit_. I'm no one's _slave_. Not the Andalites', and certainly not the Yeerks'."

"I wish we could contact them," Mercedes said thoughtfully. "The Andalites. We could use some help." Her voice trailed off sadly at the end and she averted her gaze to the ground. We stood silently for a moment, and in that silence I heard it.

A twig snapped loudly behind me and before I could turn, I felt the firm press of cold metal against my throat.

"Shit," I breathed.

_[Do not move.]_

* * *

My eyes widened, mimicking the almost comical looks of surprise on everyone else's faces.

"Oh my God," Mercedes breathed.

Sam put up his hands in a gesture of peace. "We mean you no harm."

I rolled my eyes at the subconscious inflection of Captain Kirk Sam put into the sentence. Even when he wasn't trying he was doing impersonations. I couldn't see the Andalite, but I could feel it. Or rather, _her_, since the voice in my head was obviously feminine. It took me by surprise. I swallowed at the fact that I was at her mercy.

_[How do I know you are not Yeerks?]_

"Wouldn't we have tried to kill you by now?" I reasoned before I could stop myself, my tone bordering on annoyance. When I got scared, I got mad. It was a defense mechanism I was sure was going to get me killed.

_[Maybe it's a trick.]_

"And _maybe_ I'm Visser Seven," I retorted, rolling my eyes again. "I thought Andalites were _smart_."

_[I'm not stupid,] _she bristled, pressing her tail blade harder into my neck. I gasped as it cut into my skin.

"Santana," Sam whispered angrily, glaring at me before turning his attention towards the Andalite. "You're not the first we've met," he explained. "One other… Willi-Amschu-Ester… Do you know of him?"

The Andalite stepped forward, and I got my first good look at her. She was smaller, more delicate-looking than the dying one we had met. Her fur was a light lavender color instead of blue, like his. However her upper body was also more toned, her arms more defined, though she lacked bulk. She was sleek, and extremely graceful. Both sets of her eyes were a deep shade of blue, the purest form of the color I'd ever seen. She was beautiful... for an alien.

She looked uncomfortable at Sam's question. _[Yes. He was my mentor,]_ she answered at last.

"He's dead," Mercedes told her gently, her voice holding audible compassion.

The Andalite closed her main eyes in anguish, as if we struck her physically. _[I know. I watched him die.] _She paused for a long moment, composing herself. She opened her eyes_. [I've been watching you,]_ she confessed.

"You were there?" Puck demanded. "How come we didn't see you?"

_[I was a different form. A small creature. Furry. Soft…]_ She smiled, which was weird to see considering she had no mouth. It was something she did through her eyes, which held a wistful, nostalgic expression. She seemed to be lost in the memory for a moment.

"I'm Sam," Sam offered, bringing her back to the uncomfortable, tense reality where she still had her tail blade pressed to my throat. He gestured to each of us as he introduced, "This is Mercedes, Puck, Kurt, and-"

"I'm Santana," I interrupted. She turned her main eyes to me, and held my steady gaze for a long moment. I got lost in the blue of her eyes, the intensity with which she held my gaze.

_[You have beautiful eyes,]_ she blurted into my head.

"Excuse me?" I asked, startled. I raised an eyebrow in question, a blush creeping on my cheeks (thank God for tan complexion) at her random statement. I looked at Kurt for confirmation but he seemed oblivious. No one seemed to have heard it. I swallowed.

_[I'm Britta-Nysp-Ierce,]_ she said finally, lowering her tail from my throat. I reached up slowly to feel my neck, not surprised when my hand came away slightly bloody.

"Ow," I muttered. Mercedes gave me a concerned look but I shook my head slightly, letting her know to drop it.

_[Willi-Amschu-Ester should not have given you the power to change. He broke the law,]_ she explained. She paused, thoughtful. _[Though I guess I can understand why he did it. And he's gone anyways,]_ she added sadly.

I ignored her musing. "What are you doing here? I mean, how have you survived? Where have you been staying?" I felt like there were a million things I wanted to ask her, but those would have to do for now.

Her expression brightened at the questions, probably at the fact that it took her mind off of her previously troubling thoughts. _[In the woods,]_ she replied, turning a stalk eye to indicate the direction._ [I managed to acquire a human form from a female I discovered sleeping in a peculiar lodging made of cloth. I've been using her form to spy on you and other humans, and to discover Yeerk activity.]_

"When you say 'spy'…" Kurt started suspiciously.

_[I've discovered your homes, your school, and your various recreational locations. I was also able to obtain several useful forms for surveillance, including-]_

"Okay, wait," I interrupted her enthusiastic explanation. "You changed into a _human girl?_ Do you have clothes?" I cringed at the thought. We had all discovered that problem the hard way, and had managed to figure out how to transform with limited skin-tight clothing.

_[Clothes?]_

I tugged at the collar of my jacket. "This."

_[Oh! Artificial skin,]_ she beamed. _[I obtained some. It's back at my scoop.]_ I assumed that was her house.

"Would you take us there?" Kurt asked.

_[Of course!]_

"Lead the way," Puck said, his expression disbelieving. We exchanged an incredulous look that said, _is she for real?_

But we followed her into the woods, and towards her _scoop_.

* * *

I didn't recognize the girl whose form she had taken on, but I still felt uncomfortable seeing her naked. The girl was a little chunky with massive amounts of freckles and platinum blond, almost white hair. She had wickedly bad teeth and green eyes, and was not even mildly attractive.

"Um, here," I mumbled with my eyes downcast as I handed her my jacket, though I was sure it would barely cover her chest. The only clothes she had "obtained" were a long scarf and a torn pair of sweatpants that were 3 sizes too big and falling off her hips.

"You can't go around looking like that chick, what if we run into her? That's suspicious," Puck stated.

"I'm not sure how we can avoid that problem," Sam admitted. "One of _us_, maybe? We could pass her off as a twin…"

"Like that's not creepy," Kurt pointed out.

"Well what should we do, then?" Puck asked.

"I could perform a _frolis _maneuver," the Andalite said, twisting her mouth strangely. "Fro. Lis. Maneuuuuver. Er."

"The fuck are you doing?" I asked.

"What's a.. f-_frolis_ maneuver?" Mercedes asked.

The Andalite looked confused over which question to answer first. "It's a… maneuver. How it works, well…" She fidgeted and looked uncomfortable again. "I can combine different DNAs to create a new form."

"Wait, what?" I asked incredulously.

"Soooo you basically acquire a bunch of people and then go all Frankenstein on them?" Kurt clarified. "Weird."

"Creepy," Puck agreed. "But somehow still so hot. The idea of combining some women into one is… intriguing."

"Oh, _ew,_ gross," I said. "That's a visual I did _not_ need. And even if you combined all those women, Puck, they still wouldn't want _you_. It's in their DNA." I smiled at him sweetly and batted my eyelashes, ignoring the glare he gave me.

"With your permission, I could acquire one of you?" the Andalite suggested, bringing us back to the topic at hand.

"I'll do it," Sam volunteered. Of course, Trouty The Sci-Fi Nerd would be first in line to offer himself for some weird, alien DNA-splicing procedure.

"How many do you need?" Kurt asked warily.

"I only need two. Two? _Two_." She returned to her Andalite form, placed her hand on Sam's forearm for all of two seconds, and removed it.

"That was quick," I commented. It normally took me at least a minute to acquire something, but she was already transforming. Sam, Puck and Kurt turned around to give her some privacy.

This time, when she finished, I was speechless.

Her body was completely toned, much like her Andalite body. My eyes guiltily traced over her toned arms, her defined abs and her sleek, strong, smooth legs. She kept the blonde hair, but it was darker, combined with Sam's natural color. Her eyes were her own color, endlessly blue, slightly catlike in shape, and I had to admit it was a little freaky. She was still tall, a few inches taller than me, and upon closer examination I noticed that she had a small spattering of light freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was… well, probably the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen. Also the most gorgeously _naked_ girl I'd ever seen. I swallowed hard.

"Great. Here," I shoved clothes at her. Once she was dressed, the boys turned around.

"Damn," Puck whistled, his mouth dropping open.

"Damn," Sam agreed, his eyes wide.

"She needs shoes," Kurt pointed out, oblivious. Of course.

The Andalite looked down at herself. "Shoes? Shoos. Sheeews." Oh god, even her voice was beautiful. I wondered if she noticed my staring, or the fact that my eyes were currently having sex with her.

Mercedes gestured to her own high-tops. "They protect your feet. We don't have hooves like you."

The alien girl nodded. "That makes sense. Ense."

"I'll bring you some of mine," I offered, eyeing the size of her feet. "Britta-Nice-Whatever your name is." I'm not good with this shit.

"Britta-Nysp-Ierce," She confirmed.

"Brittany!" Kurt said, pleased with himself.

I nodded, smirking. "I like that better."

"Brittany," the alien said, trying it out with her mouth. "Brit-nee. Brit-ta-nee."

* * *

**OKAY SO. We met Brittany. I decided not to bold all her thought-speak because first of all, that's soooo much bolding and it looked ugly, and second of all, she's got a softer mind-voice anyways so bold isn't needed. ;)**

**Any Animorphs fans in the hizz-ouse? It'd be pretty upsetting to know no one's catching my extremely sneaky parallels and differences to the Animorphs-verse... but it's all good, _I_ know they're there and that's what counts I guess. :')**

**Review if you feel like it, but if you don't, well, then don't, it's okay. See you next time, pals!**


	3. True Blood

**First off, I'd like to thank you all for the reviews and follows! :D I'm glad there's some Animorphs fans out there. :)**

**I think (read: hope) you guys are gonna like this chapter, but if you don't, it's okay, because I do. Lol. **

**Happy Monday! (even though it's basically mostly over D:)**

* * *

I've done a lot of things in my life that I'm not proud of. In fact, the list grew bigger once becoming a _Transformer_, and continued to grow with each mission. But the number one slot on that list of Things I Should Not Have Done Because I Can Never Undo Them happened on a Tuesday night with a certain Beluga Whale.

Finn wasn't really that fat- okay, wait, actually, he was. For a guy who used to play football and basketball, there's no reason why he should have mitties and a stomach that looks like it should be on a starving child from a third-world country. But for whatever reason, he wasn't in shape the way, say _Puck,_ was. Which is sad, really, because it would've made what I had to do a whole lot easier.

"So when is this New Directions meeting again?" I asked in my best nonchalant tone, trying to subtly steer the conversation towards my underlying goal while holding my breath to avoid gagging on the copious amounts of cheap Axe knock-off body spray permeating from his clothes. Finn was distracted with attempting to kiss my neck, which in reality was more like how he might go about eating corn on the cob. Ugh. Reminder to self: _get skin exfoliated at soonest opportunity_. I rolled my eyes at his clumsy attempts at groping me and wondered if he was just genuinely bad at making out, or if the Yeerk inside his brain was. My skin crawled at the thought.

"Friday," he panted against my neck and I shivered in disgust at the warm, wet feeling, resisting my instinctual urge to gag. He pulled back and I mustered a seductive glance at him as he continued, "You should come. It's at the Triple R." The Triple R: Rhodes' Roller Rink. The only other thing to do in this lame ass town besides go to parties. Of course.

I feigned some more disinterest, which wasn't all that hard because I was, in fact, very disinterested in him. "I don't know. Not really my kind of thing, Finn."

"C'mon, Santana," he mumbled against my lips before he kissed me. Buhhh. "There's going to be some very important people there. I really think you should consider joining. New Directions changed my life."

_I'll bet it did_. I squeezed my eyes shut as his tongue attempted to make like a Yeerk and invade my mouth, but I decided that I'd had enough and kissed him back fiercely, taking control.

"I'll think about it," I purred as I pulled away. "For now, I think you should go. It's getting late, and I have homework, and Cheerios in the morning."

He sat on the bed looking out of breath for a moment before nodding dumbly. "O-Okay."

* * *

I walked Finn out, closing and locking the door immediately after he turned away. But only after he gave me one more sloppy kiss, and once the door was closed I wiped my mouth and rushed back upstairs to use the bathroom. My skin was still crawling as I looked in the mirror, and I vigorously brushed my teeth. Then I brushed them again. I ran a hand through my slightly disheveled hair but I still felt dirty. I decided to take a shower.

The scalding water soothed me and I scrubbed and scrubbed until I felt clean again, then stood under the spray and just let the water flow over my body. As I was conditioning my hair I took a few moments to contemplate my life.

It had been a little over two weeks since we had received the power to change, and a little under a week since we found Brittany living in the woods. I knew Finn wasn't interested in me as a person- he was trying to get me to join New Directions, and I could think of a lot of reasons why. Like I said previously, I was working hard at becoming Head Cheerleader. My dad was a doctor and my mom was a lawyer, so that opened up a whole world of possibilities for them. And on top of being completely gorgeous, I was very, to put it nicely, _influential_. I could persuade and threaten people to join New Directions and no one would think it was out of character for me.

As much as I enjoyed my fear-inspiring reputation as an incorrigible bitch, that thought kind of bothered me a little. I didn't really want to be known as some tyrant, but I had to protect myself. Beautiful girls like me were easy targets, easy prey, which only meant I had to be tougher. See, I was a blackberry bush. I had a lot of sweet fruits, but you had to work past the brambles to get to them. I didn't want just anyone getting my fruits.

Oh, _God_, what am I even _saying_?

I shook my head and turned off the shower. No, Finn was not into me because he thought I was a great person. He wanted something from me: my status, my family, my body- I shuddered. _Literally_.

I made my way back into my bedroom and changed into some cheer shorts and a tank top, then sat in front of my vanity and brushed my hair. I put it up in a low ponytail and nearly jumped out of my skin when I looked in the mirror.

Bright blue eyes were staring back at me intensely.

"Jesus, Brittany!" I stood up abruptly and whirled around, taking in the sight of Brittany standing awkwardly in my room, dressed in panties and a tight bra that pushed her boobs up. My eyes flicked over her body quickly- honestly, those abs should be illegal- and stopped at her face. My heart was still pounding at the surprise of finding her there, and I placed a hand on my chest and took in a deep breath to calm it.

"Sorry for s-startling you," she stammered timidly.

"You could knock," I snapped, moving to my dresser to dig out some clothes for her. I just couldn't be around her when she looked like _that_. Why couldn't she learn to transform clothes like the rest of us?

"Knock what?" she asked, puzzled. I looked up and caught her confused expression in the mirror and couldn't stop myself from smiling.

"On the door," I explained patiently.

"But Finn was there." She paused. "Besides, I came in through the window. 'Sidezz. Doe."

"The window, then." I pulled out a t-shirt and another pair of cheer shorts, handing them to her.

"Why?" she asked, already beginning to put on the shirt.

"To ask permission to come inside."

"I'm not a vampire, Santana," she said, scrunching up her nose and pulling the hem of her shirt down.

"It's- hold on. How do you know what a vampire is?"

"Sometimes when I'm bored I fly around and look for humans to observe," she shrugged in an exaggerated, awkward way that made me smile. She really must have been observing humans a lot. "I sat outside Mercedes' house and watched her look at an electronic device, I think it's called a television set?"

"A TV," I encouraged, nodding.

"She was watching a show called _True Blood_. It was fascinating but I doubt that humans, even an ulterior version of them, could survive on the nutritional value of blood alone, however-"

"Mercedes was watching _True Blood_?" Oh, she was never going to live that down.

Brittany nodded, mimicking me.

I sighed. "Well, it's still polite to ask for permission to enter, even by _human_ standards."

"Human etiquette?"

"Something like that." I waited for her to finish putting on her shorts, keeping my eyes trained on her face and not on the long, sexy legs attached to her body. She looked back at me, her stare intense, and I fidgeted uncomfortably. She made me nervous. "Any particular reason for this home invasion, Britt?" I inwardly cringed at how easily the nickname rolled off my tongue without thinking.

She didn't seem to notice, or if she did, didn't care. Instead she averted her eyes. "No."

I raised an eyebrow. "So you just came into my room without permission for no reason?"

She dug her bare toes into the plush carpet and shrugged again. "I was lonely," she admitted in a whisper, and I felt my heart ache in a way I'd never felt before.

Of course she was lonely. She was only a bajillion miles away from her planet and her own people, and to top it off, her only companion, Willi-Whatever, was dead. She had no means to even communicate with her parents or friends back home, if she had any.

That thought made me realize that I knew next to nothing about her. I moved to sit on the bed and invited her to come sit next to me. "How did you end up here?" I asked softly.

She raised her eyes to mine and I could see a myriad of emotions flashing through them, the predominant ones were sadness, fear, and a look that seemed as if she was pleading me not to ask questions. I saw her visibly swallow and she seemed to be internally fighting whether to answer me. She chewed her bottom lip nervously and her hands fidgeted in her lap. The thought of her inner turmoil made me sad- I definitely didn't want to make her uncomfortable, so I decided to change the subject.

"I got some info from Finn," I told her casually.

"Is that why he was here?"

"Yeah. I invited him over to try and see if I could learn anything. He's taken an interest in recruiting me into New Directions, and I figured it was as good a place as any to start on taking those guys down."

"I saw you on top of him, with your mouths together," she pointed out.

I blushed. _This just got totally awkward._

"Why do humans do that? There was a lot of it on _True_ _Blood_. Vampires do it, too?"

"Vampires aren't real, Britt," I said, still blushing. "And it's called kissing. It's an expression of affection, and I guess it feels good- sometimes." I shrugged.

"So you and Finn have affection for one another?" Her face fell slightly and I tried to ignore what that could possibly mean.

"No!" I said quickly. "Oh, God, _ew_. It was purely for informational purposes. Sometimes humans can use others' affections for their own personal gain." It sounded bad to put it like that, but it was essentially what I was doing. And let's be honest, human beings are just generally rotten assholes a lot of the time.

She considered what I told her. I thought she was going to lecture me about morals, or about right and wrong, or question me about my motives and character, you know, being a noble alien and all, but she did none of those things. Instead she asked, "Did you learn anything useful?"

Surprised, I nodded. "There's a New Directions meeting on Friday… I'll explain it tomorrow, when we all get together to discuss what we're gonna do about it. For right now, let's not worry about it." I walked over to my TV and turned it and my Blu-Ray player on, then settled back onto the bed. "_True Blood _is _not_ good programming," I told her. "I'm going to educate you on some finer human culture."

Brittany grinned and looked excited as I started up an episode of _Sweet Valley High_. I got the box set for Christmas, okay?

* * *

I had set the alarm on my phone to go off every hour and fifty minutes, but it wasn't needed. Brittany had some kind of internal clock, and the uncanny ability to begin changing seconds before the alarm would go off. We watched episodes pretty late into the night, even though I had school in the morning. She asked a lot of questions about why the girls on the show did what they did, and I answered as best I could. We talked through the majority of the episodes, and eventually the topics strayed to other things, like about my life, my family, and my childhood. She never offered up information about herself, a detail that didn't skate past my radar. But I figured she was under some super-secret Andalite code that forbid her to talk about herself or something, so I didn't push her to talk. If I ever wanted to know about her in the future, I had to get her to trust me, and I couldn't earn her trust by making her uncomfortable.

Sometimes when the conversation lulled, I'd turn to find her staring at me intensely, which always made my heart pound unexpectedly. She was laying close to me on the bed, close enough for me to notice the flecks of gold in her blue eyes, and the way the light from the TV cast shadows across her creamy skin made me ache in a totally unfamiliar way. She was so completely and unfairly beautiful.

When her third time-limit ended, I told her she should probably head home because it was getting late and I had school the next day. She nodded, a gesture which looked strange on her Andalite body but still somehow familiar, and began the change into a bird form she had collected.

I laughed when she completed it. I hadn't really known what animals she had acquired out in the woods, so it came as a total surprise when she stood on the carpet as a mallard. "You changed into a drake?" I asked incredulously, grinning widely.

_[Is there something wrong with this form?] _she asked. Her head tilted inquisitively and it made me laugh. It was a ridiculous movement for a duck. I moved closer, admiring the glossy green feathers on the duck's head.

"No, he's beautiful," I admitted.

She looked at me. Well, the male duck whose form she had taken on looked at me, but I swear I could almost see her in his expression. I smiled gently at her.

"Britt?"

_[Yes, Santana?]_

"You don't have to be lonely… You can come visit me anytime you feel that way."

_[You won't mind a home invasion?]_

I giggled, grinning. "Well, you might want to knock first."

The duck nodded, making me grin impossibly further. _[I assure you I will next time. Even though I am not a vampire.]_

"Well in that case, you're welcome any time."

Brittany turned around, towards the window, which was highly amusing with the way the duck waddled, and flapped up to land on the windowsill. Then she turned back to me.

_[Santana?]_

"Mmhm?"

_[Thank you.]_

* * *

The next day I gathered everyone at my house to tell them the info Finn had given me. My parents were, as usual, nowhere to be seen, so Brittany was in her natural form. I had the curtains closed to shield her from any idiots walking by on the sidewalk as we stood in my large bedroom. I looked around at my friends, dressed in various outfits consisting of skin-tight clothing. We hadn't learned how to transform with anything that wasn't yoga pants, compression shorts, or Body Armour shirts, and they looked ridiculous standing around in brightly mismatched colors.

"You guys can't walk anymore?" I muttered as I sized up their outfits.

"Why would we walk when we can change into a fucking eagle and _fly_ here?" Puck retorted. "It's so much more badass."

"While you do have a point, I'm afraid Kurt is the only one who looks sensible, and I never in a million years thought I would say that." I cringed.

"Wow, you actually said my name," Kurt commented.

"So, guys, I was thinking- what if we came up with some type of uniform?" Sam started. "You know, since we can only change in skin-tight clothing-"

"Oh, God, this conversation is not happening," I groaned.

"_Dude_, I was thinking the same thing!" Puck said excitedly. "I was thinking I could come up with something similar to Batman's outfit-"

"How are you going to transform a _cape_ and a _utility_ _belt_?" I snapped.

He ignored me. "But then I was like, dude, The Green Lantern!"

"Well, we are a group, so I was thinking we'd be more like the Fantastic Four," Sam argued.

"Six," Kurt corrected.

"No way, man. They're lame as fuck. We're more like the X-men. They support individuality." Puck crossed his arms to show he meant business. I stifled a laugh, because, _come on._

"I could totally rock a trench coat," Kurt chimed in. I gave him a horrified look.

"See?!" Puck demanded.

"Well, what if we were more like-"

"Okay, _seriously_? This conversation is still _going_?" I snapped.

"Thank you," Mercedes breathed in approval.

"I didn't gather you guys here so you could talk about _synchronized_ _uniforms_," I hissed. "Which is never going to happen, by the way, my uniform quota has been filled." I paused for a moment to let them process the sound of their wildly unrealistic dreams dying a painful death. Then I continued. "Rachel told Finn that they are having a New Directions meeting at 8pm on Friday at the Triple R. Apparently New Directions has their own night of the week. She also told him that they were inducting a new member, once he 'auditioned'- whatever _that_ means. You'll never guess who."

"Who?" Mercedes asked.

"Mike."

_"Shit,"_ Kurt exhaled. "That's soon. I bet they are going to turn him into one of _them_."

"Seems that way," Sam agreed before I could say anything snarky.

"Well then we've gotta be at that meeting," Puck said firmly. "Is it closed to the public?"

"It's open, but mostly the New Directions kids are gonna be there, obviously. If we don't have connections we will look out of place."

"It's the Triple R on a Friday," Kurt pointed out. "It can't be that awkward."

"Face it, Kurt, nobody goes to the Triple R unless they are going as part of a club or they're a loser."

"Well then I should fit right in then," he snapped.

I shrugged.

"Well, Puck and I are on the football team, so no problems there," Sam started.

"And I'm a Cheerio," I mentioned. "Plus I know Finn."

"I guess I'll do surveillance," Kurt muttered bitterly.

I caught Mercedes giving me a meaningful look and shrugged again. "You'd rather be a bird anyways," I pointed out.

Kurt glared at me.

_[I'll accompany you, Kurt,]_ Brittany said, smiling in that no-mouth way. His expression softened.

"What about me?" Mercedes asked.

"With me," Sam said immediately.

Surprised, Mercedes looked suddenly shy. "Okay," she said in a small voice. I grinned.

"We'll meet up after school on Friday," I said. "And you'd better _not_ have matching outfits."

* * *

Friday came around quickly and we met up after school as planned.

"Okay, we all go in separately," Sam began. "Don't all show up at the same time, no one acts like a group. You guys know the deal."

We did. We avoided hanging out as a clique to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. After all, we never hung out together before we became _Transformers._ Ugh, why did that name have to stick?

"Brittany, keep in contact with us through your telepathy," Sam instructed.

Brittany, who was currently in human form, nodded. "Yes, sir."

I sent her a small smile at her formality. She must've watched a military movie this past week. I took a moment to admire her eccentric outfit. Her clothes were terribly mismatched but somehow they still looked awesome on her. The girl was flawless. I shook my head and tuned back in to what Sam was saying.

"-trouble, then get out of there."

Oh shit. I guess I should've been paying attention to that part. Oh well.

* * *

It wasn't long after I strapped skates onto my feet (don't even, I'm actually awesome at it) that I found Finn. He looked like a big lumbering idiot on wheels, and he sidled up next to me as I skated gracefully towards the skating area.

"Hey, you made it."

I smiled sweetly at him. He didn't need to know it was fake. "Like I'd miss out on a chance to be with you." Ugh, did I really say that? To _Finn,_ of all people? Gag! I batted my eyelashes at him for good measure, hoping he would fall for my charm.

He did, because he's an absolute moron, and he smiled at me, leading me out onto the floor. We skated for a bit and as we did I looked around, making eye contact with Sam, Puck, and Mercedes, all hanging separately.

Good. Now that I knew they were all here, it was time to look for Mike. I left Finn for a moment to search the growing crowd of people.

_[We got a black Hummer,]_ Kurt told us suddenly via mind-speak. We only had the ability when we were in another form. _[It's pulling up outside. Now someone's getting out… Okay, wow, it's Sue.]_

I swallowed. Shit just got real if Visser Seven was here. Mike must be a lot more important than I thought. Somehow I knew our plan of verbally convincing Mike to leave was no longer going to work. The stakes had been risen.

_[She's entering the building,]_ Kurt went on._ [Through the employee door… Okay, she's in. We lost sight of her.]_

_[Why is it called a 'Hummer'?]_ Brittany wondered.

I smiled despite myself.

Sam casually skated up near me. "Keep an eye on Finn," he said lowly.

"Already working on it," I snapped. I skated away from him and caught up with Finn again.

He looked at me with surprise when I sneaked my hand into his. "You're going to skate with me during the couple skate, right?" Oh, God, shoot me now.

He looked extremely on edge, nervously darting his eyes away. I guess Visser Seven had that effect on people. "Yeah, maybe," he told me, his voice wavering slightly. Damn, he must be _really_ nervous. "I just have something to do first."

_Oh, no you don't._

"Well, that's rude," I chided. "You invited me."

He looked torn, but he obviously knew that Mike was the priority recruit over me. His eyes scanned around and I follwed his gaze to land on first Rachel, then Mike. Bingo.

Rachel caught his gaze and within moments had skated over. Trust the girl not to miss a cue. "Finn, could you help me with something? Over _there?" _Bitch, like that wasn't completely obvious.

"Excuse me, he's currently spending time with _me,_ so I'm afraid he won't be able to assist you in waxing your unibrow," I sniped.

Her eyebrows raised and she looked taken aback. Over Rachel's shoulder I spied Sam skating over to Mike and striking up a conversation that I knew was going to be an invite to Sam's house for eggrolls and anime. What Asian could resist that? Out of the corner of my eye, however, I saw Tina approaching.

Oh, those sneaky _bastards_! Using the Asian Persuasion power? There was no way we were going to be able to overcome that. I watched as Puck intercepted her.

"-so I don't think it will be that much of a concern for you," Rachel finished.

Uh. What? Shit, had she been talking this whole time? I really needed to stop tuning her out, no matter how much I wanted to protect my brain from the useless things she might contaminate it with.

"Listen, Hobbit-"

"Santana!" I looked over at Mercedes, who was standing near the low wall encircling the skate floor. She stood unsurely on her roller skates and waved at me. I narrowed my eyes at her. What the fuck could she possibly want? "Could I talk to you? It's about _True_ _Blood_."

Oh. That was the codeword we'd come up with after I'd mercilessly teased her about her obsession with the show. It meant _abort the plan_.

"Sure," I called hesitantly. I looked at Finn, then at Rachel. "Looks like you lucked out this time, Barbra. See you, Tubbers."

Finn looked confused, but mostly relieved as I skated away towards Mercedes.

"Sam said to forget Plan A," she muttered.

I nodded absently. That meant Plan B was a go.

Perfect.

* * *

In the grand scheme of plans in the world, when you think of Plan A, you probably think of something well-thought-out, something with a lot of structure and planning.

Plan Bs are never like that. They are always reckless, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type shit. So of course I was a little excited at the thought that things were about to get _cray_.

I met up with Puck and we discreetly changed into our sneakers, keeping an eye on Mike as he did the same, with Finn, Rachel, and Tina hovering near him, talking excitedly. Mike seemed enthused about their conversation, and when he finished, the group of Controllers led him away to a dark corner of the building. There was an unmarked black door there shrouded in shadows. It looked completely obvious, like something out of a cheesy film. I rolled my eyes at the predictability and motioned for Puck to follow as we made our way over to it as well, following at a distance.

Finn placed his hand on Mike's shoulder, and Rachel and Tina came up on either side of him, escorting him through the door.

We counted to ten and then entered while Mercedes kept watch. We decided to go as our own selves instead of transforming. If anyone found us we could just say we were lost. Being a bug is great and all, but I prefer my own senses.

Behind the door was a long, dark hallway. It was lit by a single bulb hanging from the ceiling, and all the walls were painted black. It was eerily quiet, considering four people who had been having a pretty stimulating conversation had entered just moments before.

We stayed quiet, straining to hear anything as we crept carefully down the hall. When we got to the end of the hall, it turned 90 degrees to the right, revealing a small cubby with a door. I looked at Puck and he shrugged. I placed my ear against the door to see if I could hear anything.

It was quiet, so I carefully opened the door just a sliver. It was completely dark on the other side, so I entered, the thought of how dumb I was crossing my mind several times. I mean, who dies in horror movies? Certainly not the ones who _don't_ enter strange, dark rooms.

As we moved into the center of the room, I could see another door, but this time, it was framed with slices of light, and I could hear voices on the other side.

"-despite the fact that your slanty eyes might make it hard to see, you'll make a fine addition to our cause, Other Asian." I recognized Sue's biting voice. I moved closer to the door.

I heard Mike mumble something but couldn't make out what it was. I turned as I noticed two more people entering the room- Sam and Mercedes. I held a finger to my lips- not that they could really see it because the room was almost completely dark- and tilted my head towards the door. We all huddled close together.

"I think they're about to infest him," Puck whispered.

"Then we'd better do something fast," Mercedes said.

"Let's transform. Avatars," Sam breathed.

I grinned, quickly stripping off my outer clothing, and began the change.

_Oh, hell yes_.

* * *

I wish I'd had a camera to capture Sue's comical look of surprise when Sam used his huge, gorilla fist to bash the door open. It popped off its hinges and the four of us stood silhouetted in the doorframe.

I flicked my tail around, antsy, as the people in the room blinked at us.

"Andalites!" Sue hissed angrily. I smiled to myself at how wrong she was. But who else would have the power to change? Only Andalites had that power, and going by that logic, _we_ had to be Andalites. Pretending we were was the only reason we were still alive. If they knew we were human they'd track us down in a heartbeat.

Finn screamed and ran through a door on the other side of the room- like a _pussy-_ and I took a moment to survey the rest of the scene. Mike was being forced down into a chair that had metal restraints on it, but he hadn't been locked in yet. What incredibly fortunate timing for him. He looked absolutely appalled at the sight of our little freak show.

Tina was standing behind him, glaring at us. Well, that answered the question of whether or not she was a Controller.

Rachel was also glaring at us coldly, and she reached over onto a table to pick up-

_[Dracon beam!]_ I shouted. It was kind of like a phaser, if you wanted to get all _Star Trek_ technical. It was a lot more messy, though. The holes it left weren't clean and you didn't turn into cute glowing particles. It was more like getting burned with a laser beam.

I was on her faster than she could pull the trigger, using my powerful claws to swipe at her hand. She was fast, but not enough; she dropped the device and retracted her hand, but not before my claws gouged four bright red lines into her skin.

"Aaaagh!" she screamed, and fled towards the door Finn had exited. A different door to the left suddenly burst open, and in walked three Hork-Bajir.

Gosh, I hate describing aliens. They're like… I dunno, seven feet tall, green, and covered in razor sharp blades at their wrists, ankles, knees, pretty much anywhere there's a joint. They have a tail- also conveniently covered in blades, imagine that- and on their heads, guess what? That's right, more blades. Not really something anyone wants to mess with, but hey, we can't exactly avoid them when we do Plan Bs. I kind of liked to think of them as miniature Godzillas.

"Kill the _gafrash_ Andalite!" one of them yelled.

I'm assuming _'gafrash'_ was Alien for something insulting.

_[Well, gee, now I'm offended,]_ I told him as I leapt onto his chest, using my rear claws to dig into his stomach as I mauled the fuck out of his face. He slashed wildly and managed to get a good slice into my leg, which only pissed me off more.

Behind me I heard the sounds of the others engaging into the fight, Puck's wolf was snarling and I could hear him tearing into flesh somewhere to my left. Sam was bellowing and repeatedly hammer-fisting one of the other Godzillas to my right. I had no clue where Mercedes was.

My Godzilla opponent went down and I landed on my feet, bleeding slightly and looking for Mike. The guys holding him had fled but he was standing there, holding some kind of pipe in his hand- no clue where he found it. Tina was still standing behind him, looking calculatedly afraid, and Mike was brandishing the pipe as if it might actually do damage to some of the most intense animals Earth had to offer.

I advanced on him, hissing and bearing my fangs, and he raised the pipe higher as if to strike me. I laughed to myself, because, _seriously_? Any other guy would have ran, but no, _this_ douche had to be noble and brave. How was I going to take him out without hurting him?

Just then Sam came up behind them and tapped Tina on the head; she crumpled to the ground instantly. Unfortunately it alerted Mike, who spun quickly and slammed the pipe into the side of Sam's skull, connecting with a loud crack. It wasn't enough to take him completely out, but he did stagger, and he fell face down into what looked like a mini kiddy-pool that was tucked away into the corner.

Mike looked horrified, because now Puck had finished with his guy, and Mercedes had appeared, in bear form, with Brittany behind her, whipping her Andalite tail, and all of us were closing in on him.

_[GO!]_ I snarled, coiling my muscles as if to leap on him, and he dropped the pipe, turned, and fled out of the door to the right, which led straight outside. The employee door.

I watched Mike go before turning to the corner with the small pool. Mercedes stood on her hind legs and used her bear paws to pull Sam out of it. His head was bleeding profusely and his eyes were closed.

_[Sam! Change back,]_ Mercedes ordered worriedly. Sam's gorilla eyes fluttered weakly, but he began to change, and I shifted my gaze to the pool behind him. The water was a slate color and had a thick consistency, and after a few seconds I realized that the surface of it was roiling. With _Yeerks._

Oh, _shit._

I felt my stomach drop and my limbs become weak. _[Oh, fuck,]_ I moaned. Puck looked at me questioningly, his wolf head tilted to the side. He followed my gaze to the pool and muttered a curse.

Sam had just completed the transformation back to human when Brittany snapped her tail blade to his throat. It was gone in an instant, but I hadn't missed the hatred in his glare.

Her one word, spoken with such conviction, only confirmed my suspicions, our greatest fear:

_[Yeerk!]_

* * *

**OH NOEZ! D: Is Sam a Controller?! How will the other kids deal with it if he is?**

**I guess you guys will find out next Monday... it should be a fun chapter. ;)**

**See you next time, pals! And remember to review if you feel so inclined! **


	4. Sam I Am

**Okay, so, I just want to apologize for this taking so long. I was on vacation last week, and then this chapter turned out to be a lot more involved than I thought. I contemplated breaking it up into two separate chapters, but I really wanted all of the stuff pertaining to this particular storyline in one chapter. So, sorry for the delay, but this chapter is waaaay longer than the others so hopefully that'll make up for it somewhat? And it's kind of on time for Bramtana Week (which is weird because I didn't actually plan that at all.) I totally planned that!**

**I'm gonna try my hardest to have another update on Monday and get back to my normal updating schedule, but don't quote me on it.**

**All right well, enjoy! :D**

* * *

_[Brittany! What're you doing?!] _Mercedes cried, rearing up on her big, furry hind legs. She looked like she was ready to tackle the Andalite at the first opportunity. She towered over all of us in her bear body, her massive front paws were as big as my head. I felt the fur raise along my spine reflexively, and my ears flattened along my skull. Even though _I _knew it was Mercedes, my cat instinct still interpreted the bear as a threat. Now that the focus of the fight was over, my feline brain was very much aware of the other wild animals in the room, and it didn't like it.

I stood, slightly crouched, defensively twitching my tail, taking in our surroundings, and very consciously aware that we were running out of time to make our escape. I couldn't even begin to process what Sam being a Controller might mean, but Brittany's disgusted declaration refused to let me believe that he wasn't currently under Yeerk control. It was unsafe to assume otherwise.

_[Sam is not himself,] _Brittany said lowly in response to Mercedes' earlier outcry. Her tail blade remained steadily pressed to Sam's throat. Sam had his hands palm up and open in a peaceful gesture, and he was smiling tensely.

"Brittany, this is ridiculous," he said softly. "Come on, we have to go. They'll be back soon."

_[Yes, we must go,] _Brittany acknowledged. She hesitated for only a moment, one of her secondary stalk eyes flicking to me for reassurance. I guess she didn't find a resistant expression on my cheetah face; with lightning speed she drew her tail away from Sam's throat, turned it, and hit him on the head with the flat of the blade, successfully knocking him unconscious again. He slumped completely to the floor on his back. I'm sure all of the head trauma he was receiving probably wasn't good for him.

_[__**Brittany**__!] _Mercedes roared, advancing on her.

_[Wait up, Wheezy,] _I snapped, leaping in front of her and hissing. My cat brain was going crazy. _[You need to calm down and think a moment.]_

_[He _fell_ in the _Yeerk Pool_,] _Puck reminded.

_[That doesn't mean he's a Controller,] _Mercedes muttered.

_[But it also doesn't mean he's not,] _I countered. _[We can't know for sure right now, but we can't take the chance that he isn't. We've got too much at stake.]_

_[Guys! Get out of there!] _Kurt called from outside. _[We got more Hummers approaching! At least five of them!]_

Puck cursed.

_[Kurt, Sam's been… hurt.] _Really? Did I really just say that? _[Plan an escape route, on foot. We are bustin' _outta_ here.] _I turned to Mercedes. _[Can you carry him?] _I gestured a paw towards Sam.

Mercedes wrapped her big, brown bear paws around Sam's unconscious form and lifted him up gently, throwing him over her shoulder. She looked silly on three paws, with her left front one securing Sam to her shoulder, but it was effective. And we needed to peace out of this place, like, five minutes ago.

_[Okay, let's go. Kurt! Guide us,] _I called. _[We're coming out. No pun intended.]_

We slammed through the side door and out into the dark alley. Thankfully, the approaching Hummers hadn't arrived yet, so we had a few precious seconds to get away from the building before they converged on us. We scrambled down the pavement behind the neighboring building of what used to be a grocery store, and across a darkened parking lot, avoiding the streets where the Hummers were giving chase.

_[Left! Okay, keep going forward. Okay, left again! Now right at that stop sign,] _Kurt called out directions from above, having an advantageous view and helping us avoid being spotted. We could hear the screech of tires as the Hummers struggled to find us, to keep up, but we quickly evaded and eventually lost them.

Finally we made it to a small strip of trees behind a bank and Sam began to wake up. Mercedes dumped him carefully onto the pavement and watched him anxiously, glaring at Brittany to keep her distance. Kurt flew down closer but stayed perched on a broken street light.

_[You have been transformed for one hour and forty-seven of your minutes,] _Brittany reminded us.

_[Shit. Better change back,] _I told our little group, and we all shifted back into our own forms, taking a breather. I stood, completely healed, since our avatars were constructed from DNA and injuries didn't affect that, but panting. Cheetahs were great for speed and short distances, but they weren't long-distance runners. Puck seemed to be holding up fine, wolves were travelers. I had no clue about Andalites, but Brittany looked like she had just taken a slow, leisurely stroll through a meadow with birds singing in heart-shaped formations. She was obviously a runner. Mercedes looked about how I felt. Bears weren't exactly mobile creatures, and she was struggling for breath. Kurt fluttered down to the ground to do a quick shift from bird to human and back to bird, effectively restarting his two-hour time limit, but he looked winded as well. Morphing rapidly tires you out because of the energy required to change.

"Sam?" Mercedes asked gently, shaking his shoulder. Oh yeah, I had forgotten about him for a moment.

Sam groaned, his eyes opening slowly. "Hey." He raised a hand to his head, rubbing the spot where Brittany had whacked him. His eyes fell on the Andalite and he glared. "What was that for?"

_[Do not speak to me, Yeerk,] _Brittany growled. _[Leave Sam at once!]_

"You're being stupid," Mercedes accused. "Sam is completely fine." She moved to inspect his head, running her fingers through his dirty-blonde hair.

"Just a little disoriented," Sam agreed, wincing when Mercedes touched his sore spot.

I glanced at Brittany, noticing she had averted her main eyes and looked a lot like someone had killed her puppy. I remembered how angry she had gotten when I had implied she was stupid the first time we met, and it made me angry that Wheezy had called her that, upsetting her. I resisted the urge to tear Wheezy apart for hurting Brittany, and instead turned to Sam.

"We've got to get out of here," I started slowly. "The Yeerks will still be looking for us. It'll be faster if we transform into birds and fly away; we can meet at the usual spot, in the woods." I locked eyes with Sam as I continued, "Don't try anything funny, Sam. Just in case."

He rolled his eyes and shrugged, and I shared a meaningful look with Puck. It was a silent agreement that we were going to keep an eye on Sam together. We changed into our various bird forms. I favored a Mississippi Kite as my go-to bird morph, and it made flying effortless. It was a small bird of prey, with only about a three foot wingspan, but it helped me blend in. I watched as my skin raised and changed into white feathers and my face stretched out into a small, curved beak. The shrinking was the weirdest part- it was like I was falling, only my feet were still on the ground.

As I changed, I watched Brittany. The shift from human to bird was weird, but the shift from Andalite to bird should have been weirder. However, Brittany made it look graceful and smooth, almost natural. She did it in a quarter of the time it took the rest of us, and it looked far prettier, too. I guess she had just had more practice.

Once we were all changed, we took flight, making sure to keep our distance from each other since we were all different birds, and our bird forms didn't exactly hang out together in Bird World. I smiled to myself as Brittany's duck took off before me, leading the way to the woods.

_[Brittany,] _I called privately. Thought-speak worked like email. You could spam everyone, or you could send it to just one person.

_[Yes, Santana?] _she responded.

_[Do you know somewhere in the woods we could keep Sam? I don't know, like a secluded meadow or a cave or something?]_

_[I know of a small, abandoned human dwelling. It is near my scoop. I discovered it the other day while searching for new forms to acquire. I believe it will accommodate Sam.]_

_[Good, then lead us there,] _I said, noticing we were getting closer. I could see the edge of the woods.

Brittany didn't respond, but she lowered her altitude slowly, shifting her direction. We followed, and eventually landed beside an old wooden shack. It was definitely abandoned, but there was no way to tell how long it had been there. It didn't seem that old, since none of the wood was too rotted. We changed back into our normal forms, and I once again cursed being barefoot. I needed to learn to change with shoes, and I needed to learn stat.

I carefully entered the shack and was surprised to find that it seemed pretty clean inside, but it was far too dark to see much of anything. "Wish I had a flashlight," I muttered before bumping into a table. On the table was an old lantern, and next to the lantern was-

"Matches?" I asked incredulously. "How completely convenient." I lit one carefully and held it over to inspect the lantern. "Is this for real? This shit is from, like, the Revolutionary War."

"Just light it," Kurt complained. "I can't see anything." I did as he asked after a few moments (what, like _you_ would automatically know how to light a lantern from the 18th century?) and inspected the room. There wasn't much. There was a chair next to the table, a small wooden crate with some old dusty pieces of fabric and a length of rope in it, and a one-person cot in the corner. Obviously this had been the residence of some squatter, but it was only recently that they had abandoned it. Assuming they _had_ actually abandoned it. Oh well, better for us.

"What are we doing here?" Sam asked carefully.

I looked at him, then at Puck, who was standing very closely next to him. I nodded slightly to him and tilted my head towards the chair. Puck grabbed Sam's arms suddenly and escorted him to the chair while Sam grouched.

'What're you _doing_? Let me go," he demanded.

"Sam, shut the fuck up," I said, rolling my eyes. "Here's the deal: we have no way of knowing if you are or aren't a Controller."

Kurt nodded. "It's best if we keep you for the three days."

"Three _days_?" Sam asked, horrified. "Guys, no, come on, I'm good!"

I shrugged. "The real Sam would understand."

"Mercedes, come on, talk some sense into them. You know this is stupid!" Sam pleaded.

Mercedes met his gaze. "They're right, Sam. Maybe you aren't a Controller, and this is a huge misunderstanding. But we can't take that chance. It's only for three days."

"And how are you guys gonna hide me?" he demanded. "I have church on Sunday! It's gonna draw more attention to my family if I end up missing and then turn up after three days. I have school on Monday. And football practice!"

"I guess one of us will have to be you," Puck suggested.

"_Be_ me? That will look suspicious," Sam argued.

"Instead of trying to talk us out of it, Sammy, how about cooperating with our efforts?" I snapped.

"I'm sorry, I'm just preoccupied with the fact that you guys are holding me here against my will," Sam retorted, glaring at me. "And you guys can't spend your time being me without looking suspicious for being gone yourselves."

"Oh don't be so dramatic, you're acting like kids never skip school," Kurt muttered.

"_I _don't," Sam protested.

"Well I _do_, all the time," Puck admitted. "But I'm seriously not too keen on being you, dude. No offense."

"No need," Kurt stated, raising his hand delicately. "We have the perfect volunteer."

"I hope you don't mean yourself," I said. "Because that's a little-"

"No, Satan, I _didn't_," Kurt interrupted, annoyed, before I could carry that thought down a road I really didn't want to go down anyways. "I meant _Brittany_."

We all turned to look at her, and she squared her shoulders, lifting her chin up at the attention.

"_What_?" Sam hissed. "No way that'll work! She can't even go out in public without making a scene."

"It's true," Puck agreed. "I took her to the mall on Thursday and she totally freaked out when I got her a box of Dots."

I ignored the tiny sting of jealousy that shot through me at the thought of Puck and Brittany hanging out. I wasn't sure why I was jealous- probably because I wanted to be Brittany's friend, that made sense… plus I knew what Puck's ulterior motives were, even if they were slightly disturbing- but I'd definitely need to beat Puck up and establish some rules about it later.

"See?" Sam demanded.

"I don't know about _you_, but I'm getting really sick and tired of hearing your counter-arguments, Sam. Man the fuck up and realize that this is happening _without_ your consent."

"Yeah, the real Sam would definitely be helping us come up with ideas," Mercedes agreed.

"I AM the real Sam!" Sam exploded. "The real Sam I am!"

"Not funny," I mumbled.

"This is _ridiculous_! I can't believe I'm going to be held hostage for three days!"

"Brittany," Kurt nodded calmly at the Andalite, completely ignoring Sam's outburst, and gestured towards Sam. "You might as well get it over with."

Brittany stepped forward with only slight hesitation. _[I will acquire you now, Sam,] _she said gently, reaching warily forward. She touched his forearm, and the explosion came.

"Don't_ touch _me!" Sam roared, standing up and knocking his chair over. "_Filthy_ _Andalite_!"

We stood, shocked, blinking at Sam, who was gritting his teeth and glaring furiously at Brittany. His hands were balled into fists and he was panting with rage. After a moment he gained a wild look of panic in his eyes.

_Oh yeah, you fucked up, Yeerk._

"Well, I guess that answers _that_," Kurt said quietly, inspecting his nails.

"What? No, guys, I didn't mean it, she just _surprised_ me, is all," Sam explained.

"'Filthy Andalite,'" Mercedes repeated. She looked betrayed, bitter, and she shook her head slowly.

"Yeah, I was just upset that you guys are listening to her and not me," Sam continued to reason, looking increasingly more desperate.

"Right," I said slowly, narrowing my eyes at him. There's not a chance we were letting him go now.

* * *

"Okay, we can probably keep Sam out for the night," Mercedes said. "It's getting really late though, it's at least almost eleven. So if we're going to call and let his parents know, we need to do it now."

Oh yeah. I forgot some people had parents that were actually _around_.

"This is _insane_!" Sam continued to complain from the corner. We had found some spare rope outside the shack, which we used to bind his hands and then secure him to the chair. We'd then unceremoniously shoved his chair into the corner while we decided what we were going to do.

I shrugged. "We can have Britt do it. That'll buy us the whole night to come up with a plan. I doubt he," I jerked my thumb at Sam who was struggling in his chair, "is going to cooperate."

"My parents already think I'm staying with Kurt," Mercedes started. My eyebrows raised. I had no clue the two were even friends. "So I can stay here with Sam tonight and make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

"Fair enough," I said. "I'll cover you, and give Brittany some pointers on how to be Sam. If she's gonna pull this off, she has to practice."

Mercedes nodded. "That makes sense."

"This is _stupid_!"

"I've got to go home," Kurt said guiltily. "Damage control with Finn is of the utmost importance if we want our secret to remain that way."

"You're all dumb for even trying this!"

"I guess I can do surveillance," Puck offered. "I got _shit_ going on."

"You'll never pull this off!"

I narrowed my eyes. I was starting to really get pissed off. I turned to Sam, and got down to his eye level.

"Let me tell you something, you slimy, alien _shitbag_," I said in a low, calm voice. "Two choices here: You leave Sam. You can do it now, and die a quick, almost painless death under my shoe- right or left, that's your choice. Or you _don't _leave Sam- and you starve to death and die slowly in three days. I bet that it's _really_ painful, starvation. Either way, Sam and the rest of us walk away from all this, and _you_ _die_."

"Fuck you," Sam spat.

I laughed, standing up again. "I'm sure you'll find _that_ memory if you dig for it, it was probably the best time of Sam's life." I shrugged, then continued more seriously, and with slightly more compassion, "Hang on, Sam, I know you're in there."

* * *

I sighed, rubbing my temples with my fingers. "One more time, Britt."

Brittany, who was an exact copy of Sam at the moment, took a deep breath and straightened up proudly. "Hello. Hello? Hell-oh. This is Sam," she recited. "I will not be returning home this evening, as I am currently staying the night with Puck at his place of residence."

I sighed again. Sam sat smirking in the corner and Kurt giggled. "Don't you have to go home?" I snapped at him.

"Oh, I can't miss _this_," he said gleefully. "Please, continue."

I ground my teeth for a moment before I looked at Britt/Sam. "I guess that's good enough. Let's just get this over with so Elton John over here can go home. Make the call."

Kurt looked mildly offended and Mercedes dialed Sam's cell phone, then held it up to Brittany's ear. She gripped it hesitantly.

"_Hello?"_

"Hello. May I speak to Sam's mother, please?" She asked in Sam's voice. Oh, God, this was never going to work. I nudged Brittany with my elbow and Kurt giggled again.

"_Sam?" _his mother's voice on the other line asked hesitantly.

"Yes. This is Sam." Brittany nodded, even though no one on the other line could see her.

"_Where are you?"_

"In the woods."

"No!" I hissed, waving my hand at her. I resisted the urge to facepalm myself.

"_The woods? What're you doing _there_?"_

"I am not in the woods, I am mistaken," Brittany corrected. "Are you Sam's mother?"

"_What? Are you all right?"_

"I tooold yooou," the real Sam sang ecstatically from the corner.

"Shut it, Yeerk," Puck growled, clenching his fist menacingly.

"Yes, I am okay. Kay. Oh-kay," Brittany continued. "I am telephoning to inform you that I will be lodging at another residence this evening."

This time I did slap my forehead. "Oh, God." Please, let this be over.

"…_okay…?"_

"I will be home tomorrow. Morrow."

"_Okay…."_

"Say 'goodbye,'" I whispered urgently.

"Goodbye, Sam's Mother."

She held the phone out away from her ear and it was silent.

"…_Sam?"_

"Hang up!" I hissed.

Brittany looked at me quizzically. I snatched the phone out of her hand and ended the call quickly.

"Oh, God, that was _great_," Kurt giggled, wiping a tear from his eye. Mercedes looked horrified.

"Shut _up_," I ground out.

"Ready to release me yet?" Sam called.

Brittany smiled at me proudly. "How did I do?"

"We bought some time, but Sam has to return home at some point," Mercedes reminded, snapping out of her stupor. "He has church on Sunday, remember?"

Oh, shit.

Things were about to get seriously tricky.

* * *

"Sam, where have you- oh, hi, Santana," Sam's mother greeted first to Sam, who was actually Brittany, and then to me. She was a petite woman, with blonde hair that matched Sam's and green eyes. She seemed extremely surprised to see me. "I didn't know you were coming over." She raised an eyebrow at Brittany accusingly and I forced a polite smile.

"Yeah, Sam invited me," I told her.

Brittany, as Sam, nodded. "Yes, I invited her."

There was an awkward pause as we all stared at each other, and then Sam's mother spoke. "Well, you know you're always welcome. Why don't you come on in."

It was Saturday night, and it had been almost 24 hours since Sam had been taken over by the Yeerk in his head. We had all spent the day watching him in the shack in the woods, switching off occasionally to go home and shower, change, and check in with our families. One of us was always running surveillance on the shack without Sam's knowledge, in case he tried anything sneaky. I had spent the time trying to teach Brittany how to talk more like a human, specifically Sam. It was a slow process.

Brittany, as Sam, had been instructed by his mother to return home for dinner, and I sure as hell couldn't trust her alone with Sam's family yet.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"You're back."

I sat tersely on the couch, fidgeting, as Sam's younger sister, Stacy, stared at me. She was leaning over the coffee table and focusing all her attention on me, and it was completely obnoxious.

"Yep."

Silence. Boy, was this awkward. Brittany, still in Sam's form, didn't seem to notice. She sat, content, beside me on the couch, observing the living room and looking completely out of character considering she was supposed to be Sam and Sam _lived there_ and therefore shouldn't be looking at everything with such wonder. I inwardly sighed. This night was going to suck. Big time. And it was _Saturday_. There were so many other great things I could be doing.

Stacy continued to stare at me and I felt my jaw tensing. "Is there a problem?" I snapped at her, and she just shrugged, continuing to burn holes in me with her stare. I'd had enough. "Sam, why don't we go up to your room?" I suggested, grabbing Brittany's arm and yanking her to her feet.

"That sounds wonderful!" Brittany said with a big Sam smile, and I pulled her along and up the stairs by her arm, leading her to Sam's room. Once inside with the door closed, I turned to her.

"You should re-transform," I said softly. "You won't have a chance during dinner, and it's almost ready. You've been in that form for over an hour."

She nodded and began stripping off her outer clothes, leaving her standing in tight compression shorts. Sam's abs were fantastic, and I knew that's who Brittany modeled her own human form's abs after. I blushed as Brittany stood there, in Sam's mostly naked body, and smiled innocently at me. This was so completely _weird_.

She changed back into an Andalite, and I contemplated what was going on with my feelings. I hadn't felt any sort of attraction to Sam the entire time I'd been dating him, and I'd seen him naked plenty of times. But now here was Brittany, in Sam's body, not _even_ completely naked, and I was blushing like a middle-schooler.

Brittany had just finished changing back into Sam's body when the bedroom door opened.

Brittany blinked.

I stared, horrified, at Sam's younger brother, Stevie, and Stacy, who had their heads poked in and were grinning like little Cheshire cats, and then with a horrible sinking feeling realized how Sam standing in his underwear in front of me might have looked to them.

Could this _get_ any more awkward?

I blushed furiously and glared at them. "Get out!"

Giggling, they ran down the hall and I moved to close the door. "I thought I told you to lock it," I said as I inspected the door, flicking the lock. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart down and stop the blush invading my cheeks.

"I don't know how to do that," Brittany deadpanned.

"Little tyrants," I muttered. I turned around to find Brittany giggling slightly, and the sight made me smile. I picked up Sam's discarded clothes and helped Brittany get re-dressed in them. I took one final deep breath and fixed Brittany's collar where it had flipped up, and my eyes fell to hers- well, to Sam's. But there was some element of softness in them that I had never seen before.

"Thanks," she murmured in Sam's rumbling tone, and I smiled slightly, my hand lingering on the collar.

"No problem," I said, averting my eyes from Sam's piercing green ones. This whole situation was really confusing. I took a step back and surveyed the room, preparing myself.

We still had to get through dinner.

* * *

Dinner was not less awkward. Not at all.

"So… Santana," Sam's father started hesitantly. He was a tall, middle-aged, no-nonsense kind of guy who did construction or something so he was solidly built. Sam obviously got his good looks from him. He had a disarming smile that rarely reached his brown eyes. He seemed mildly at a loss for what to say to me. I didn't blame the guy- I felt the same way.

"Yes?" I asked politely. My eyes darted next to me to Brittany, who was eating the food in front of her with too much fervor. She paused after every bite to close her eyes and savor the flavors, since having no mouth in her natural Andalite form meant that she had no sense of taste. Unfortunately, it meant I was going to have to step up as captain and navigate the Sea of Awkwardness on my own. At least if the _real_ Sam were here he would help me. But then again, if the real Sam were here this situation wouldn't even be _happening_.

"It's… nice… to see you again," He finished. He averted his eyes to his plate and hurriedly began cutting a piece of the meat on it.

_Uh-huh. No, it's not._ Oh, God, I never thought I'd be in this position again. Not that Sam and I had ended things badly- we had come to a mutual agreement. But as the dinner continued, I had a feeling that Sam's parents really had no clue _what _had happened between us.

"Same here," I agreed, meeting his gaze so that he would know I meant exactly the same feeling that he had just implied. He frowned slightly and I smiled sweetly at him.

"Sam, you didn't tell us you and Santana were _dating_ again," Sam's mother scolded abruptly.

I dropped my fork and my stomach clenched uncomfortably. "We're just friends."

"Yes, we are friends. _Only_," Brittany clarified with a firm nod.

"Oh." Sam's mother looked visibly relieved. That _bitch_.

"Nah uhhhhhhh," Stacy sang. "Then why was Sam in his underwear just now while you guys were in his roooooom?"

FUCKING LITTLE BITCH.

Now it was Sam's mother's turn to drop her fork. If looks could kill, Stacy would be a rotting corpse. I shot daggers at the little mouth-breather from across the table and blushed. She smirked at me. Sam's parents cleared their throats uncomfortably.

"So, Sam, how's football?" Sam's father asked, effectively changing the subject; while I was slightly grateful, it unfortunately turned the attention on Brittany.

I froze, catching Brittany's eye, praying she would blow off the question with a disinterested shrug or a short answer like we had discussed beforehand. Instead, she smiled widely. "I know about football," she said confidently.

Sam's parents relaxed, assuming we were heading into safe territory, and I felt the tension ease out of the room a little. But I was still edgy; I refused to let my guard down.

"Football in other countries is actually what North Americans call soccer," Brittany began proudly. "But I play American football, which is a variation on rugby football from the United Kingdom- that's the country that Americans won their freedom and independence from about 236 years ago- and is unique to this country."

Sam's parents, to their credit, looked equally impressed and confused. I tried to stifle a laugh. I also wondered where in the hell Brittany had gotten all that damn knowledge about football. I'd have to remember to ask her later.

"I play quarterback now that Finn is no longer on the team," she went on. "I am a decent leader and my season record is 2-5. Although that, in my opinion, is not a very successful record. I have a game on Thursday that I hope you all will be able to attend." Brittany looked appropriately hopeful. Sam's face had never looked so adorable. I smiled behind my glass as I took a sip of water.

"Of course, Sweetie," Sam's mother said after a moment. Sam's parents exchanged a worried glance and I resisted the urge to laugh outright. Brittany looked pleased at their confirmation and returned to eating the last bit of scraps on her plate.

Thankfully, the dinner conversation turned to Stacy and we finished eating in peace. I shared a secret smile with Brittany (who was now on her third plate of food) at having pulled it off. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Too soon, another silence filled the room and I decided to spare myself from anymore embarrassment, just in case Sam's parents had mustered up the courage to question me again.

"Wow, dinner was absolutely _great_," I said with way too much enthusiasm as I stood up from the table.

"Oh, thank you, honey, I'm glad you liked it," Sam's mother said with a relieved smile.

"I hope you don't mind me accompanying you to church in the morning," I added.

"I suppose not," Sam's father started, slightly taken aback by the random statement. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Are you staying the night?"

I gave him a brilliant smile. "Thanks for the offer." I grabbed Brittany's arm and pulled her up to her feet. "Come on, _Sam_, why don't we go upstairs?" I asked sweetly.

"But-" Brittany protested, looking longingly at the last two bites of food on her plate.

I dragged her away before she could say anything else, but as we reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard Sam's father's voice.

"Wait, guys, I want to talk to you about something serious, for a moment."

My stomach dropped. Oh, no.

"Yes?" Brittany asked brightly, smiling and turning. I paused, turning only slightly as Sam's father continued.

"Sam, I know you are getting older, and when you're that age, you may feel certain… urges."

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, God. Oh, _please_, no. This isn't happening.

"Urges?" Brittany asked, curious. She was focused on Sam's father, and listening very intently.

I looked at her in alarm. _Don't encourage him!_

"Yeah," he said, his voice cracking slightly. He looked a cross between uncomfortable and stern. But as uncomfortable as he felt, I felt ten times worse. Words could not describe the depths of my discomfort. I wanted to crawl under a rock and just _die_.

"This conversation is so depressing. I may actually be dead right now," I mumbled under my breath.

Sam's father ignored me and cleared his throat. "See, when a man and woman… well… when you reach a certain age… I just want to make sure…"

I looked at Brittany's face, cringing at the rapt attention she was showing. "Oh, God, please, just _stop_," I pleaded. "Sam and I are not like _that_."

He raised an eyebrow disbelievingly and looked at Brittany, who had a completely confused look on her face. "Is that true, son?"

"Yes," Brittany stated. "Whatever Santana says is true."

Sam's father looked appropriately alarmed at that sentiment, because, duh, he _should_ be, and continued. "I just want to ensure that you are still following the Path of God, Sam. That your commitment to your faith is still strong."

"Of _course_ it is," I said quickly before Brittany could say anything. "Sam and I are just _friends_. And back when we _were_ dating, we had that conversation as well." Lies. Sam and I definitely never had that conversation, and he definitely never followed God's Path or whatever the fuck. I smiled politely for good measure. "You can trust us."

"Trust is not the issue, Santana. I'm only concerned for Sam's safety."

The fuck does _that_ mean? I narrowed my eyes.

"Why would safety be an issue?" Brittany asked, looking more confused by the second. She turned to me. "Is what we are doing dangerous?"

"No, _Sam_, it's not, because we are not _doing_ anything," I said sweetly through gritted teeth.

"Good… good. Yeah, that's… good," Sam's father trailed off, furrowing his eyebrows. We stood in silence for a moment while I fidgeted with my hands at my sides.

"Okay, well… Good night," I said slowly.

"Good night…"

"Good night," Brittany chirped cheerfully, before I dragged her upstairs.

Ugh, just shoot me.

* * *

Sleeping arrangements were a slight challenge. Rather than wake up every two hours to re-transform, only to go back to sleep, we decided it would be easier if Brittany slept in her own form. However, we couldn't risk anyone coming in and seeing her, so after I was sure everyone was turned in for the night, I carefully moved Sam's dresser in front of the door.

Okay, that's a lie. I made Brittany do it.

What? She was in Sam's body, and he's _way_ stronger than _me_.

I made sure the curtains were closed and tied securely shut, and then took a moment to relax and get ready for bed. I stripped down to the outfit I wore to transform in, and climbed into Sam's bed. Brittany, as herself, moved to stand in a corner. I guess she slept standing up. I didn't think about it for too long because after a moment I passed out.

I woke up to the sound of Sam's alarm next to the bed, muttering curses and fumbling for the button that would shut the damned thing off. I rolled over onto my back and opened my eyes, and was greeted with the sight of Sam's green ones, peering at me.

"Santana," Brittany whispered urgently. "I believe this body needs to dispose of waste."

"What?" I asked groggily, sitting up and pulling my hair back from my face with my hand. I paused a moment to process what she said. "Oh. You mean you have to use the bathroom?"

"I do not need to _bathe_, Santana," Brittany mumbled, fidgeting uncomfortably. She cast Sam's eyes downward, and I could just see the faintest blush upon his cheeks.

"No, Britt- it's just what it's called." I got up out of Sam's bed and grabbed her hand. "Come on." I led her over to the door, which she had already moved the dresser from- she must've been up early. I opened it carefully and led her to the bathroom. Once inside, I gestured towards the toilet and looked at Sam's confused face.

This is so _not_ what I wanted to be doing first thing in the morning.

"So um… do you have to, uh, pee? Or what?"

"What?"

"Nevermind. I'm sure you can figure it out. Just put it in there, and when you're done, push the silver handle." I turned and closed the door, then went back to Sam's room to start getting ready for something I wanted to do even less than explaining to an alien how to use a human toilet.

Church.

* * *

"Is that human a leader?" Brittany asked me in a whisper.

I shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

"I just thought, since he's wearing a crown-"

"_Sam_! Hush!" Sam's mother hissed from the pew in front of us.

I smiled in amusement. Normally I fought to stay awake in church (mostly due to my Saturday late-night activities), but thanks to Brittany's constant stream of highly entertaining questions, I was actually enjoying the service for the first time ever.

However, I didn't enjoy the part after the service.

That was the part when I ran into Quinn.

Brittany was with Sam's parents, saying hello to their friends, while I stood awkwardly in the lobby, fidgeting with the brochure I had been handed upon arrival. That was where she found me.

"Oh, hi, Santana, I didn't realize you and Sam were dating again."

"Hi, Quinn," I said, sarcastically sweet, "How lovely to see you, too." I paused to process what she had implied. "Wait. What makes you think I'm dating Sam again?"

"Well, let's be real, S, you only ever came here when you and Sam were together," Quinn said with a roll of her eyes.

"How _observant_ of you. But just for the record, we are definitely _not_ together again."

"Oh really?" She arched an eyebrow. "So why are you here, then?"

"Oh, well, you know me, I just love Jesus," I said seriously.

She rolled her eyes again, crossing her arms in the process. "Cut the shit, Santana."

"No, really," I told her. "I've realized I've been living in sin and I've decided to change my evil ways before I get cast out of Heaven." I smirked as she sighed irritably and gave me another look. "What're _you_ doing here, Q? I thought you joined the Skanks. Since when do they believe in Bible-thumping?"

"I did, and they don't," she shrugged. She paused, and added softly, more to herself, "but I'm willing to try anything at this point."

I furrowed my eyebrows, taking in her troubled expression, and felt my heart sink in sadness for her situation. I really, really hated those Yeerks for what they were doing- they made Quinn go back to _church_! Between that and the Skanks, I couldn't decide which was worse, but neither of them were _good_ for Quinn.

"Hello," Sam's familiar voice said, and I turned to see Brittany walking up, as Sam. She smiled, revealing Sam's perfect white teeth.

"Hi, Sam," Quinn said with a smirk. "I didn't realize you were back with Santana." I shot Quinn an angry glare at her blatant disregard for the fact that I just fucking told her we weren't dating.

Brittany gave me a semi-confused but hopeful smile and slid her hand into mine. "Yes, we are dating. Ing."

"Right," Quinn continued to smirk at me, triumphant that she'd been proved right. "Well I'm glad you were able to work everything out."

Brittany nodded. "She is a hot piece of action," she told Quinn seriously, and without warning, smacked my ass.

I whirled to her, furious, glaring. "_Sam_!" I hissed through gritted teeth. What the fuck was she doing?! It's bad enough she said we were _dating_! This was going to be so hard to fix on Monday- I inwardly groaned at the thought.

Brittany looked alarmed at my tone. "Did I say the wrong thing?" she asked in a stage whisper, concern written all over Sam's face.

I squeezed her hand so hard she made a slight cry in pain and I turned to Quinn, offering her a sweet smile. "Well, Q, its been _great_ fun, but we've gotta go. See you around," I said quickly before guiding Brittany by the hand out of the church.

"Santana," she whined in Sam's deep voice and I let go of her hand before turning to her.

"Who the _fuck_ told you to do _that_?" I growled. I knew I looked slightly terrifying. I _felt_ slightly terrifying.

Brittany rubbed her hand gingerly, looking a little distraught. "Puck," she said helplessly. "He said you'd really like it," she added in a sad whisper, averting her gaze and hanging her head in shame.

I felt bad for Brittany- I'd have to make it up to her later- but as for Puck, oh, he was gonna feel the wrath of Snix when I got a hold of him.

* * *

Once we got back to Sam's house, I had to leave to have lunch with my abuela. I gave Brittany specific instructions not to leave the house, not to engage in too much conversation with anyone, and when she re-transformed every two hours, to put the clothes back on in the same way she was currently wearing them. (It had been quite a feat in the past to explain to her that underwear did not go on her head, and I wanted to spare myself from any future similar conversations.)

I figured I could trust Sam's family with their own son, and promised to check on her later. I didn't leave her completely alone- Kurt was keeping watch to ensure nothing too crazy happened- but I still worried about all the possible things that could go wrong. What if Sam's family were all Yeerks? What if they discovered Brittany's secret? What if they weren't Yeerks but figured out Brittany wasn't really Sam?

The possibilities were endless, and I couldn't stop playing out all the scenarios. I couldn't even really enjoy lunch with my abuela, I was so tense and worried. She seemed to notice, so she didn't keep me too long, for which I was grateful.

When I came back to Sam's later that night, I came as my Kite. I flew in through Sam's open window and landed in the middle of the room, then changed back to my own form. I had since trained Brittany on how to lock the door, so I wasn't worried about anyone busting in this time.

Once the transformation was complete, I stood awkwardly in Sam's room dressed in a sports bra and yoga pants.

"Santana," Brittany hesitated, staring at me. "I feel strange."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean I have this feeling that I've never felt before. In this body. Bod. Dee."

"Britt, stop doing that, please. I know you don't have a mouth, but it's a little distracting."

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly.

"Anyways, you were saying? What kind of feeling?"

"I'm not sure," she started, looking down at herself. "I feel overheated. And there's a tightness in my stomach. My mouth feels dry- it's a little hard to breathe." I swallowed as recognition dawned in my brain. Oh, boy. "And there's a tingling sensation in my-"

"I think I know what you mean," I interrupted quickly.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Sam's body finds me attractive."

Brittany wrinkled her nose. "Well that's obvious."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is it? Why do you say that?"

"Well you obviously are very attractive; and based on the way several of the other humans we've encountered have reacted around us, I'm deducing that you and Sam had somewhat of a romantic history-"

"-I wouldn't necessarily call it _romantic_-"

"-which leads me to conclude that Sam must find you physically attractive, otherwise such a relationship would not have been formed? Am I correct in saying so?" Brittany smiled Sam's smile at me.

I hesitated. How to explain to her my true motives for dating Sam? While her assumption would be correct in the majority of relationship cases, in _my_ case, it couldn't be farther from the truth. But she was right about one thing.

"You're correct in saying that Sam was physically attracted to me," I stated cautiously.

She looked pleased and didn't press me to talk any more about it, but then she frowned, her brow crinkling up cutely. "So, uh, what should I do about it?"

I shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. I'm not staying long. I just wanted to come by to let you know that Mercedes will be escorting you to school in the morning. I have one class with Sam, so I'll be seeing you throughout the day, but Mercedes will take care of you."

"If she's with me, then who's staying with Sam?"

"Puck. He skips school all the time, so it's no big deal for him. He can handle himself." I glanced at her face, and saw she was still fidgeting uncomfortably, her eyes downcast. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… yeah. I'm probably going to change back to my normal form in a moment."

"Are you nervous about school tomorrow? Because you really shouldn't worry, it's Monday and no one really gives two shits about school."

She shrugged. "A little."

I smiled genuinely at her and touched her forearm. "I'll be there with you, and so will Mercedes and Kurt. Consider it a valuable way to observe us humans."

Her expression brightened at the thought and she nodded. I tried to share in her enthusiasm but really I was going crazy inside.

How the fuck were we gonna pull this off?

* * *

It turned out not to be as hard as I initially thought. I didn't normally hang out with Sam at school, unlike Mercedes. I had to keep my interactions with Brittany mostly to eye contact shared from across the hall, and brief nods of acknowledgement as I passed her on the way to my locker. When we got to the History class we shared, I sat next to her, uncaring for the moment if anyone noticed.

We sat in the back, and spent the majority of the time writing doodles back and forth in my notebook. The teacher, who was old as dirt, didn't even notice our giggles or the fact that we were completely inattentive to the lesson. I felt kind of bad, because history was probably fascinating for an alien to learn, but Brittany didn't seem to mind missing out on the lecture.

We had lunch together outside with Mercedes after Brittany re-started her time limit with a quick change in the boys' locker room bathroom stall. She told us how Puck had let her read the Wikipedia page on football on Saturday afternoon, which was how she became so knowledgeable for dinner Saturday night. Mercedes laughed at the re-telling of the story, and shared her own adventure with us: Saturday night, Sam had tried to escape by transforming into his gorilla avatar and busting his restraints. He got three yards from the shack before Kurt and Puck took him down. Mercedes, who had pretended to fall asleep while watching him, had transformed by then and joined the attack. They managed to convince Sam that Brittany and I were there, too, which weren't good odds for his survival, since there was no way we would let the Yeerk escape alive, even if he WAS in Sam's body. Since Sam had no way of knowing if we were or weren't there, he wisely surrendered and returned to the shack. Crisis aborted. I was kind of mad that I was struggling through the worst dinner of my life while the others were off in the woods doing cool shit, but I got over it. I _did_ get to sleep, after all.

After lunch, Mercedes led Brittany to her other classes. The rest of the day, surprisingly, went off without a hitch. After school, I went to collect Brittany by Sam's locker, where she was standing by Mercedes. "You ready?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Ready for what?" Brittany replied.

"You have football practice," Mercedes reminded gently.

The comical look on Brittany's face was priceless.

I escorted Brittany to football practice, then went to get ready for cheerleading. Roz Washington was crazy about tardiness so I had to speed through my warm-up ritual so I wouldn't be behind, then she put us through the usual grueling Insanity work out. I'm pretty sure she had a crush on Shaun T, but I wasn't interested in getting moved to the bottom of the pyramid, so I kept my opinions on that to myself.

I tried to keep my eye on Brittany's practice across the field during my water breaks. Sam was the quarterback so she kind of had a lot of pressure on her… and I didn't want to see her get punished with physical activities because she genuinely had no clue what to do. Luckily, Puck had shown up for practice, so he was able to help guide her. I shoved my brief flash of jealousy aside with the knowledge that Puck's help was in Brittany's best interest. Kurt and Mercedes had taken over watching the real Sam- no doubt now that the Yeerk in his head was getting down to the wire he was more liable to try another desperate escape.

The sound of amazed cheering caught my attention and I looked back over to the football team, my heart accelerating in slight panic. A hesitant, slight wave from Puck assured me everything was fine, but I couldn't stop staring: Brittany was throwing the football _perfectly_. And not just a couple of yards. She was throwing it in a perfect spiral down the entire length of the field. I was completely and utterly surprised, and the rest of the team, coaches, and spectators were even more so.

The sound of my name being called snapped me back to reality and I focused on cheer practice again. Unfortunately, my focus didn't stay there, I was too busy trying to get a glimpse of Brittany's impossible football skills.

"Salsa Caliente!" Roz Washington snapped after I missed another tumbling cue. "Girl, you _needs_ to get your shit together! You're out here lookin' like a damn hot mess pining over some fool jock, and I certainly don't need that on my nationally acclaimed Cheerios team!" She waved her hand dramatically in my face to get her point across while the rest of the Cheerios looked on. "So you either tighten up before tomorrow's practice, or have fun at the bottom of the pyramid lookin up people's skirts, although I'm not so sure you wouldn't enjoy that!" Roz gave me a sassy look before she turned to the rest of the team. "Hit the showers! Shit." She snapped her fingers and stalked away.

I glared at the crowd of idiotic girls that had formed to watch me get scolded and they eventually dispersed, cowering away to the showers. I sighed and glanced once again over to the football team to find Puck and Brittany making their way towards me.

Puck grinned at me. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Can it," I snapped.

"Are you all right, San?" Brittany asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"_What_ did you just call me?"

"San- oh," she averted Sam's eyes sheepishly. "I'm sorry, did I mess up again? I thought that since humans shorten each other's names quite frequently, that it might-"

"_Santana_ doesn't like pet names," Puck said playfully, still grinning. "Especially _that_ one."

"Oh," Brittany said again, quieter.

I opened my mouth to say something, because even in Sam's body her sad look was crumbling me on the inside, but Puck once again interrupted me.

"Look, it's getting close to the time," Puck muttered, keeping his voice purposefully low to avoid eavesdropping, even though there was no one nearby. "I'm going to change forms and head out there, back up Mercedes and Kurt just in case shit gets real, y'know?"

I nodded. "Britt and I will join you soon."

Puck raised an eyebrow and I realized I had shortened Brittany's name like a fucking hypocrite. I shook my head slightly, silently fuming a little at having been caught. Brittany didn't notice, and if she did she ignored it. Puck gave me a knowing look, then left without another word.

"Come on," I said harshly, grabbing Brittany's sleeve and tugging her towards the bleachers.

"I'm sorry, Santana," she repeated softly.

I stopped and looked at her, or rather, at Sam. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and mentally punched myself for what I was about to say. "Listen, Britt… I don't mind if you shorten my name."

Her expression brightened considerably. "Really?"

I nodded and we walked comfortably side-by-side. "I was watching you play," I murmured. "You were pretty good. How did you get so good at throwing?"

"It was easy to calculate the trajectory of the ball based on the rotation, arc release, and power of the throw… Is it normally hard for humans to throw textured sacks of air back and forth to each other?"

I laughed. "You'd be surprised."

"It was easy, until I got that feeling again watching you cheer."

I blushed. "You watched me cheer?" _Oh, cool, that's exactly what I _didn't_ want you to do. _

"Yes, when I was not throwing the air sack. You looked very graceful." She thought I looked _graceful_? I'd been told I was many things while cheering, but graceful wasn't one of them. Hearing Sam's voice in the conversation was making me subconsciously start to question his heterosexuality, except that consciously I knew that it was an alien pretending to be him in an exact DNA replica, _and_ that very same alien had just confessed that she was experiencing an attraction to me while in his body.

Could my life get any more weird? Ugh.

"Do you remember how to get to the locker rooms?" At her confirmation, I continued, "Go there, drop off Sam's stuff, and meet me outside in the hall when you're done. Don't forget to _change_."

"I won't."

I watched her go before turning to the Cheerios locker room. Thank God this whole debacle was nearly over.

* * *

We made it back to the shack in the woods where Sam was being held shortly after dark. I had to first drive my car home because I was not going to walk to school the next day. Puck, Kurt, and Mercedes were inside, huddled around Sam. The lantern burned in the corner, casting off a peaceful, homey glow, which was the total opposite ambiance of what was actually happening in the room.

Sam sat in the chair, shaking violently. He was sweating, and his head was bowed down. His fists were clenched and trembling against the ropes binding them to the chair arms. His body was tense, and the air around him felt thick, almost like it had been permeated with his inner struggle.

"Fight it, Sam," Mercedes urged softly. "We're right here, with you." She let her hand rest on Sam's gently, and continued to whisper words of encouragement to him, stroking his hand with her thumb.

Sam groaned audibly through clenched teeth and I wasn't sure if it was the real Sam groaning, or the starving Yeerk.

I watched his ears for any signs of the Yeerk making its exit- Brittany had told us that the Yeerk would exit before it died, a reflexive, last-minute instinct to search for the Yeerk Pool. When I spotted it finally wriggling out weakly, I was at once grossed out, mildly horrified that we had been right because, uh, _physical_ _proof_, and also triumphant that Sam had survived over the slimy alien.

Once completely out of Sam's ear, it fell to the floor, wriggled a few inches, and stopped.

Dead.

The Yeerk began disintegrating into dust, and we continued to watch Sam for any signs that he was recovering from being held hostage, a prisoner in his own mind, for three days. He sat, unmoving, for a long time, and I vaguely wondered what it would feel like to lose total control of your body for three whole days, and then suddenly to have it back. It wasn't an easy thought to process, and even less easy to think someone I cared about had endured that experience.

_Yes_, I cared about Sam, all right?

We all stood, silently; I briefly looked around at the others. Brittany was watching with all four eyes like it was the most fascinating science experiment she had ever seen. Puck looked mildly grossed out. Kurt had a concerned expression, but it was Mercedes who surprised me- she was smiling and had tears streaming down her face. I was mildly confused on why she could possibly be so happy, since Sam hadn't actually woken up yet. His head was still down, and I was contemplating saying something because I was getting worried that maybe he had become a vegetable now that the Yeerk had left him, but then another moment passed and he lifted his head up, his eyes squeezed shut.

And then, slowly, Sam opened his eyes.

* * *

**YAY! Sam's free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, he's FREE AT LAST!**

**You have no idea how completely awesome and fun it was writing this chapter. Britt as Sam inspired so many ideas, but I obviously couldn't use all of them, or you guys would've _never_ gotten an update. LOL.**

**Anyways, hopefully see you Monday! And sorry again for the delay. If it's any consolation, I had a really good vacation... **


	5. A Spoonful

**So much for studying for my state certification exam... lol. **

**Sorry this is a day late (hopefully it's not a buck short.) For whatever reason, this chapter turned out way longer than I expected, and I didn't even cover half the shit I wanted to cover. I have a basic outline of how I want the rest of the story to go and where I'm going to take it, and each chapter has certain events included, but yeah, I guess I had too much included for this chapter so I broke it in half, and it's STILL too long. **

**Well the good news is I will definitely get back to my normal update schedule now! :D**

**Also, I wanted to throw some Animorphs cred out there. Since the premise of this story is based on Animorphs, I tried to base a lot of the subplots off of Animorphs, too. Last chapter's sub-plot was from #6. I won't tell you this chapter's right now because that would give it away, but I'll tell you next time, for those interested. :)**

**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. Enjoy!**

* * *

If there's one subject I really didn't give two fucks about amid all of the other shit I had to deal with, it was fucking math. I mean, seriously? I was fighting a war against invading body-snatcher aliens, trying to make captain of the Cheerios, and maintaining a 4.0 GPA while managing to look hot at all times. What the hell did I need math for?

I was a thousand percent sure that once the war ended, I was going to be famous. I mean, come on, I could _change into animals_. Once this invasion shit got out to the press, the interviews and talk shows would never stop. I'd be shooting the shit with Letterman, asked my opinions on important stuff like Obamacare and abortion and stem-cell research, and asked on Maury to help tell lowlife dead beats that _surprise_: it _is_ your baby after all! Now how 'bout dat child support?

Okay so maybe that last one wasn't as probable as the rest of it: a product of my own imagination, but still- where did math fit in? What if we _didn't_ win the war? I mean, I could die any day, on any mission. Shit, I could die driving my car to the tanning salon. I could die _from_ the tanning salon, like in that lame _Final Destination _movie. Why was I wasting my time learning math?

I glared down at my homework like it was the cause of cancer. No one wants to spend _any_ night, even if it _is_ only a Wednesday, doing math, _especially_ calculus. I was quickly growing frustrated. I hated solving limits, shit was so stupid.

_Dear Algebra, stop asking me about your x, she's not coming back. I don't know y, either_, I thought with a slight laugh. I rolled my eyes at myself. Was I seriously doing this? Quoting memes in my head? Ugh, fuck my life!

I heard a flutter and looked over my shoulder, and was greeted with the sight of Brittany transforming from duck to Andalite. "Hey, Britt," I greeted half-heartedly, turning back to my math.

_[Hi, San,] _she returned with far more enthusiasm. She didn't pause at Andalite, and instead continued to shift into her human form. It was a shame we couldn't go from one avatar to another- we had to return to our own forms in between. It would certainly save her a lot of time changing, although she was incredibly fast at it and didn't seem to mind.

When she was fully human, she strolled over to my dresser and pulled out the clothes she normally wore when she came over, spare cheer shorts and a t-shirt. I ignored the fluttery feeling I got when I saw her, caused partly by the fact that she was wearing my clothes, and partly because since they were _my_ clothes, they were somewhat small on her taller frame, and didn't leave much to the imagination.

Reminder to self: _take Brittany shopping for clothes._

I stuffed down my feelings like I did the last time we hung out, which had been yesterday. Since Sam had been infested and then freed, we decided to take the rest of the week off from Transformers activity so that he could sort himself out. Brittany, however, had been lonely after spending all weekend hanging out with Sam's family and me, so she came over yesterday and we watched _Dirty Dancing_. Whatever, it's a classic.

Once dressed, she walked up behind me and peered over my shoulder. "Are you doing math?" she asked curiously.

I nodded and leaned back from the hunched-over position I was in, giving her a better view of my textbook and my homework. "Limits. But I hate it, it's so frustrating and I'm never going to use it."

"I could help you, if you'd like," she offered.

I raised my eyebrow disbelievingly. "_You_ know limits? Well isn't that fucking perfect," I laughed bitterly.

She looked a little hurt and confused, and I sighed. "I'm sorry. I just- I just really don't know how an _alien_ can know _limits_. But you know what they say: math is the universal language or whatever. I just didn't think they meant the _actual_ universe." I paused and gestured to my textbook. "I really could use some help, though; I'm totally lost."

She smiled slightly and moved closer. "Then I will help you."

* * *

Twenty minutes later and I knew the shit out of limits. Brittany not only did my homework for me in less than five minutes, but then she broke down the chapter in super easy steps and had me solving equations I would've never attempted on my own, chapters ahead of where we were currently at in the textbook. I beamed up at her as she checked my work on an equation.

"It's correct," she said with a smile, handing me my paper back.

"Wow," I breathed. "I can't believe this. Thanks, Brittany."

She shrugged. "I'm glad I was able to be of assistance. You've given so much to me, and I'm grateful."

I gazed into her clear, blue eyes. "I'm grateful to _you_. I'm definitely going to pass my math test on Friday. You have no idea how much you've saved my life. If I didn't pass that test I might've had to get, like, a tutor." The thought of having someone like Wheels- or worse, Jewfro- tutor me made me nauseous for a moment, but it passed quickly as I continued to stare into Brittany's eyes. "You're a really good teacher, y'know?"

She blushed and averted her gaze to the floor. "You're the only one who's ever said that," she admitted softly, lowering her head. "By my people's standards, I'm not so good at math." Her voice held a hint of sadness, and I frowned slightly.

"You're _great_ at math to me," I told her, and she looked up again, her smile threatening to break her cheeks. I felt my heart pound at the thought that _I _caused that smile on her face, and I decided right then that, for whatever reason, I really liked making her smile. "I don't know why anyone, even _Andalites_, would think otherwise."

At the mention of her race, her expression darkened, and she turned away to sit on the bed while I mentally berated myself for upsetting her. I mean how lame was I, I had just made her feel better and then I had to go and ruin it faster than Sam could suck the lid off a pickle jar.

I got up from my desk and sat next to her. "How'd you end up on Earth?" I tried asking her a variant on an earlier question, hoping maybe I had gained enough of her trust to warrant an answer this time. She bit her lip and glanced sideways, and I knew she was still debating telling me. I tried to steer into safer waters. "What's your favorite thing about Earth?"

"You," she blurted, gazing at me, and I looked at her with what I'm sure was a completely surprised expression. She hesitated before she explained, "I don't have any friends, and my family…" She dropped her eyes away again.

"What about your family?" I encouraged softly, reaching forward and subconsciously touching her knee. She lowered her gaze to my hand for a moment before she looked up into my eyes.

"Santana," she started in a serious, but almost hoarse way, and I wondered if she was feeling emotional, "Can I try something?"

I swallowed, a little nervous about what that something might be, but nodded slowly. I sat, nervously waiting for her to get up, to do something, but she continued to sit on the bed before me, staring intensely into my eyes. After a few moments, I started to feel strange; I don't know, I just felt like the air around me was changing, though I knew it wasn't. I felt like I was leaving the room, but I wasn't moving, because I was still sitting on the bed and I could feel the comforter underneath my bare legs. I could still feel the skin of Brittany's knee under my hand, but her eyes seemed like they were growing darker. I wondered what she was seeing, and I suddenly felt very self-conscious, because she was staring at me.

I felt exposed, like she could see into me, _through_ me. I felt like I was drowning, suffocating on an overwhelming feeling that I couldn't really grasp. My vision darkened and I saw a flash of several different visions, but none of them made very much sense, and each vision lasted only a few seconds, so by the time I started to figure out what was going on, it was changing. I saw three Andalites, two female and one male, obviously a family. The second female was smaller, but all of them wore disappointed expressions. That vision shifted into another one, of different, strange animals, obviously alien life forms on other planets. The animals changed again and again, in various colors and shapes and sizes, and it was overwhelming how many different varieties there were. That vision changed to a small metal room; it looked to be some kind of living quarters, but the floor underneath was blue-tinted grass. The small porthole showed space, and I knew it was a flash of Brittany's ship.

In the next instant I saw Willi-Whatever-His-Name, glaring and brandishing his tail blade menacingly. It was rather scary, and when his tail blade flashed so close that it looked about to cut into me, my vision snapped back, and I was staring into Brittany's blue eyes, gasping for breath.

I guess I had reached out during the visions because I was clutching Brittany's hand tightly. "What was that?" I sputtered, struggling to catch my breath.

"I'm not entirely sure," Brittany said softly. She squeezed my hand reassuringly and my heart slowed down, but not much. "I was attempting to connect with you through thought-speak. The technique requires eye contact and intense concentration, although to be quite honest, I've never been particularly skilled at it-"

"Surprising," I commented darkly.

"-and it resulted in some sort of memory exchange. I'm not sure how it happened, it's the first time I've ever tried the technique on an alien with capable thought processes."

I blinked at her. "No shit." I was still trembling slightly and I felt violently ill, but it was fading quickly. I literally felt like I had almost drowned. I attempted to sift through the memories I had been given, and a thought occurred to me. "Was that-" I coughed, "Was that your parents?"

She looked at me, thoughtfully, her gaze shifting between both of my eyes. "Yes."

"What happened to them?"

She bit her lip for a second before she shook her head slightly. "They are alive, I'm sure, somewhere."

"_Somewhere_?" I frowned. "They looked so- I dunno, upset. Did something happen?"

She laughed bitterly. "The Andalites fight the Yeerks. It's what we've done for _years_. Our entire culture has been focused on war, _glorified_ it. Mine is a military family. Both my parents serve- are _decorated_. My father is a War Prince. My mother, a scientist. Even my sister, as young as she is, is skilled in espionage. Me? I'm an _estreen_," she spat. "I was _expected_ to join the military, to live up to the family honor." She paused to swallow thickly. "But I- I've never- I can't-"

"Brittany," I breathed, reaching forward to cup her face with my left hand. I turned her to look at me. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to touch on a bad subject." I stroked her cheek with my thumb gently. She looked at me and I saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes and my heart died. Just straight up _dead_. "I think you're wonderful," I murmured. "And you're great at math."

She giggled slightly, and I smiled at her reassuringly. "You think so?"

I nodded. "I know so. You know what the best thing about being a human is?" I asked her in a sly voice.

She looked at me questioningly. Oh, this was going to be too easy. Without warning, I pounced on her and tickled her in the ribs. I had no idea where she would be ticklish, or how ticklish spots even worked (like, did she have to program them in when she created this form or were they built into DNA already?) but she squealed and fell back on the bed as I continued to assault her.

"Santana!" she gasped, laughing uncontrollably. I finally relented and laid down next to her on the bed, laughing along with her. What can I say, she brought out some weird side of me, the one who liked tickling people and giggling like a Harajuku girl.

I turned to my side and opened my arms. "Come here," I said softly, and she moved into me. I wrapped her up in a hug (apparently this new weird side of me liked _those_, too) and she buried her face into my neck, holding me tightly. I stroked her hair and tried to keep my thoughts strictly in the friend zone, but her barely-clothed body was pressed against me, _in my bed_, and her skin was so warm.

She had a very distinct smell that was all her- it was uncontaminated by shampoos and body washes and perfumes, like mine was, and I found that I rather enjoyed it.

Woah, hold up, was I talking about how much I enjoyed the smell of another girl's _skin_? What the hell is wrong with me?

"Thank you, Santana," Brittany breathed into my neck, pressing closer, and I shivered slightly.

"Any time," I croaked hoarsely. Oh, great. Like that's not completely suspicious. I let go of her before my thoughts ran away with me, and sat up, pulling my hand through my hair to straighten it. She sat up with me and we stared at each other for a moment before she lowered her gaze to my hand, which was next to hers on the bed.

I watched as she inched her hand towards mine, then carefully grazed her fingertips up to my forearm. My whole arm broke out in goose bumps, and she ghosted her fingers up my forearm to the crease in my elbow, all the while watching intently. I swallowed as her fingers stroked gently up to my bicep before tracing my shoulder. I clenched my jaw, shivering, and her fingers traveled, reverently, across my bare collarbone to the base of my neck. She paused, her gaze moving upwards until our eyes met once again, before she moved her fingers softly up my neck. I was struggling to control my breathing as her fingers reached my jaw, and she gently cupped it, lifting slightly to tilt my head up more so our eyes would meet more fully.

We sat, staring intensely at each other for long moments. It was weird, but at the same time, it was a very tense, charged moment. I felt inclined to do something stupid, like ki-

Oh man, I'm thinking about kissing an alien, time to go.

I broke the eye contact suddenly and moved to get off the bed. "Well, Brittany, I'm pretty sure you've been in that form for almost two hours, and it's getting late," I said quickly.

"Actually, it's been-"

"Right, right," I nodded, cutting her off. Her face fell slightly and I felt like a douche. Here I was comforting her one minute and the next I was kicking her out because I couldn't control my own feelings for her. Typical dick move. "What're you doing tomorrow night?"

She blinked, then shrugged slightly.

"We-elllll," I started, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. "Sam's football game is tomorrow night, remember? And I was wondering if, maybe, you'd want to experience a real, live football game? And you'd get to see me cheer."

Her features brightened considerably and she nodded excitedly. "That would be wonderful!"

I grinned at her. "Okay then, can you meet me at the school at 5pm tomorrow? I'm sure Mercedes will be there to sit with you. I'm tied up until Halftime, but I'm pretty sure I can sneak away after that and join you."

Brittany smiled wider at me and squeezed my hand, and I realized I was still holding it. "Thank you, San!"

I shrugged. "Meh. Don't mention it."

Two seconds later Brittany was stripping my clothes off her body and was standing in that damned panties and bra combo, and I knew I needed to figure out what the hell was going on with my feelings.

Because it suddenly got a _lot_ hotter in my room.

* * *

Thursday went by quickly and I tried not to let my thoughts linger on Brittany too much. I continued to sit next to Sam in History class, even though he wasn't Brittany anymore. I guess I felt kind of bad for him having had to endure what he'd been through over the weekend, and then still jump right back into school with no break. Brittany had offered to cover for him for a few days, but he insisted. He tried so hard to be strong for the rest of us, but I saw through his shit. He couldn't be alone with his thoughts, he needed the distraction, or he'd dwell too much on what happened and become a puddle of feelings. See, Sam and I understood one another- he was sensitive, and I got that.

So even though I'd had to make up a lie that I was dating some dude named Cooper who was in college to squash the rumors that Sam and I were together again, I still sat next to him. Deep down I knew he was grateful that I didn't baby him or tiptoe around his experience. In fact, I kind of ignored it, which made him relax. Truthfully, I just wasn't into all that feelings shit. It made me uncomfortable.

After History class on Thursday, I wished Sam good luck and told him I'd see him after school, during the game.

"I only hope I can live up to my team's now high expectations," he muttered. "But I doubt my performance will live up to Brittany's."

Shit. I had forgotten about that. As if Sam needed another reason why it completely blew to be him, right?

After classes, I went and grabbed some food at Chipotle and returned to the school to get ready for the game. Coach Roz liked us warmed and ready long before any audience member got there.

We had been perfecting our new cheer routine all week for the audience to preview, because lord knows our football team _sucked _(no offense, Sam) and they needed something to entertain them other than the sound of crippling defeat. Coach Roz was also kind of into school spirit or whatever, and so there was a good amount of _actual_ cheering involved, too. I was a little nervous, partly because it was the first time we had an audience for this particular routine, and partly because someone I actually cared about was going to be watching. I didn't want Brittany's opinion of me to be bad in any way, even in cheering, but I refused to think about the why behind that sentiment.

When it got close to five, I met Brittany in the spot I'd told her to meet me in. She was dressed casually in jeans, a simple, tight shirt and a light jacket. Her golden, wavy hair was down, spilling over her shoulders. She looked, as usual, absolutely flawless, and I ignored the thrumming of my heart as I guided her to Mercedes, who was already settling into one of the front bleachers to get a good view of the field.

"Hi, Brittany," she started carefully when she saw us. "I didn't realize you were coming."

Brittany smiled at her hopefully. "I was hoping I could watch Sam play. Could I sit with you?"

Mercedes smiled back and nodded, patting the seat beside her. "Sure, but I'm afraid I'm not the best person to sit with. I know next to nothing about football. And neither does Kurt- he's on his way, I kind of forced him to come."

"That won't be a problem," Brittany said confidently.

"Yeah, remember how she practically memorized the Wikipedia page?" I teased playfully.

I saw the faintest blush spread over Brittany's cheeks, and Mercedes laughed.

"Then it seems like I picked the perfect person to sit with."

Brittany's grateful expression made my stomach flutter, and I cleared my throat. "I'll be back after Halftime, Britt, okay?"

* * *

I wished Sam good luck again before the game, to which he responded with a dark look, and I cringed in sympathy. Honestly, I didn't really watch the game, so much as I watched Brittany's reactions like a creepy George McFly perving on Marty's mom. When we had the ball, her face lit up appropriately and she clapped and cheered. She even clapped and cheered when we _didn't_ have the ball, which put her on the receiving end of some angry looks. She didn't seem to mind that our team was losing- she was too focused on enjoying the game. She talked animatedly to an exasperated-looking Mercedes, pointing out things that I assumed were rules or mistakes. Kurt looked disinterested and spent the majority of the time looking at his iPhone.

I caught her watching me more than once. When the team was setting up for the next play, or when there was a review or any downtime, that's when we would do our cheer thing. Being small, I got tossed in the air a lot. And, okay, I admit, when I knew she was watching, I'd be bold and show off some of my one-handed back handsprings. She seemed impressed, which only spurred me on more.

"Wow, Santana, is your college boyfriend in the audience or something? I've never seen you so active," some bitch named Suzy commented.

"For your information, Velma Dinkley, I'm trying to make Head Cheerleader, so it'd be _super_ appreciated if you could keep your absolutely _astute_ observations to yourself," I snapped.

Suzy glared at me and stomped away, and I smirked, but I toned down my tumbles until the halftime show. Then it was _game on_.

From the few times I was able to spare a glance her way, Brittany's gaze never left my body during the halftime show, and with good reason- I was easily the best at the new routine, I had the sickest moves, and I was the hottest. If there was a better candidate for Captain, she wasn't on this squad. My heart sank a little at the thought that my only rival was now a Skank, but I pushed it aside.

Less competition for me.

After the Halftime show, I once again found Brittany; she looked breathless, and she was wearing the biggest smile I'd ever seen. She waved excitedly at me when she saw me looking at her, and I gave her a small wave in return. I gestured to her to show her that I was coming up there, but she looked confused so I didn't bother to try and explain further. She'd know when I got there.

We had to welcome the players back onto the field, but once the second half of the football game started, we were allowed to take a small break. I made my way up to the bleachers and sat next to Brittany.

"You were great, San!" she said the second I was close enough to hear. Mercedes raised an eyebrow at the nickname, and I blushed slightly.

"Thanks," I said shyly, avoiding Mercedes' look. "So you liked it?" Brittany nodded enthusiastically.

"It actually was pretty good," Kurt acknowledged. "I'm sure you ladies will win Nationals this year."

"Probably," I agreed. A thought suddenly occurred to me. "What's the score, Britt?"

"28 to 10," she said with a frown. "Sam hasn't been doing so good. He has a poor release on his throw."

I scrunched up my nose. "Maybe you should tell him that."

"You think so?" She asked brightly.

"Oh, boy," Mercedes groaned suddenly, and the crowd across the field cheered.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Interception," Kurt said, bored, without looking up from his iPhone.

"You know about football?" I asked incredulously.

"No, but when you listen to an alien explain it for two hours, you learn a few things," Kurt said with a shrug as he typed out a text message.

I looked at Brittany, who looked slightly embarrassed. I smiled at her gently before I turned to Mercedes. "So, Wheezy- when did you get a bear?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "At _least_ two weeks ago. I've just never used it. I can't _always_ use elephant, you know, it's too huge."

"Good point," I said. I thought about my cheetah. It was easily my favorite form, but it wasn't very big or bulky. I hadn't needed anything with muscle yet but it couldn't hurt to have a bigger form just in case. I ran through a list of big animals through my brain but none of them seemed appealing.

The sound of a whistle blowing snapped me out of my thoughts. "I've gotta go," I said. "Britt, see you later, okay?"

She nodded, and I headed back down to the field.

* * *

There was only two minutes left and we were now losing pretty badly. I had checked the score at the beginning of the fourth quarter and it hadn't been good, and it could only get worse, judging by the sounds of the audience. With our big routines out of the way, and all hope of winning the game gone, our job became pretty pointless, so we spent most of the time on the bench, shaking our pom-poms every so often to show we were still there.

I was bending down to re-tie my shoelace when I heard two of the younger girls on the squad who were sitting on the bench next to mine, talking.

"So like, where'd Mike go? I thought he was on the football team," the first bimbo said. My interest piqued at the mention of Mike.

"Yeah, we could've certainly used him, but I heard he, like, moved?" the second girl said. Or asked, I dunno, was that a question? Jesus.

"Oh, that's too bad. I thought he was, like, super involved here. He was even joining New Directions and stuff." My ears perked up even more at the mention of New Directions. Maybe these girls knew something I didn't, as impossible as that sounded given how dumb they were.

"Maybe he didn't make it in," Ultimate Dumb Bitch suggested.

"Yeah, but no, I don't know. I've never heard of anyone not getting in to New Directions… Well, except for Matt, I heard he turned it down."

_Oh, really? Matt, you say? _

Time to pay that boy a visit.

* * *

It turned out Matt had been an attempted recruit by New Directions, but unlike Mike, he had changed his mind before he went to that creepy back room. He actually _followed_ his horror-movie instincts and got out when he felt it became suspicious. He told me all this after the game, when I caught up with him before he left the field. Matt was on the football team, you see.

We were strolling along, talking, when Brittany approached me. "Hi, Santana!" She chirped.

Ugh. Worst timing ever. "Where's Wheezy?"

"With Sam. She told me to come find you…"

"Cool," I said dismissively, turning back to Matt. "So-"

"You were great, San," Brittany breathed from behind me. I blushed again at the use of my nickname in public. In front of Mercedes and Kurt was one thing, but in front of kids like Matt- _popular_ kids- was another. We needed to discuss rules.

I sighed. "Brittany-"

"Did you still want to watch a movie tonight?" She asked, smiling at me. "I thought we could watch _From Justin to Kelly_, since it's in your collection."

Matt raised an eyebrow at me and smirked, and I blushed even harder. "Oh God," I groaned. "Matt, give us a sec, okay?"

He grinned. "Okay."

I grabbed Brittany roughly by the arm and dragged her a few feet away.

"Is something wrong, San?" she asked, cringing at my tight grip.

"Brittany, you can't _say_ shit like that!" I hissed, letting go of her arm. "What we do at home is _private_. Friends don't reveal each other's secrets."

"Oh. Is that what we are? Friends?" She looked slightly hopeful but also a little sad, but I couldn't dwell on it. I had to get my point across.

"Not for long if you keep throwing out my personal biz," I snapped.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, gazing down at the ground. She shuffled her feet a little as she spoke. "I've just- I've never had a friend, and I've never felt like this before."

"Like what?" I asked, still angry, but curious despite myself.

"Like," she paused to gather her words. She took a deep breath, composing herself, and gazed into my eyes. "Like I can't-"

"Santana!" Matt called. I glanced over at him and he gave me a '_well, come on!' _look. I rolled my eyes at him and smiled.

"Like, I have these feelings, and they-"

"What feelings?" I interrupted harshly. Brittany looked taken aback at my tone. "Look, Brittany, can we talk about this some other time? At my house?"

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled in a tiny, hurt voice. She averted her eyes again. I felt my heart starting to break and quickly shut my emotions down. I had to ignore her. _Keep it shut, Santana. Cold steel. Don't let your feelings show._ I spun on my heels and headed back towards Matt, leaving Brittany standing there, staring at the grass.

"Sorry, she's _so_ _weird_," I apologized, inwardly cringing at what a bitch I was being. But this was important. I'd make it up to Brittany later. "So what were we saying?"

'"New Directions," Matt reminded. "Bad news."

"Oh, yeah. What did you find out?" I asked, trying not to sound too interested as we made our way across the field to the locker room entrance.

"Nothing concrete," Matt admitted. "But I did discover where they get their money. See, my dad is an accountant, and he does their books. He's the one who tried to push me into joining." I felt my stomach tighten. That explained a lot.

"So where do they get it?"

"Some private financer. New money, most likely. Initials are A.M. Whoever it is, they are loaded, and they obviously support New Directions. They also support a corporation called Cibbo. I don't know anything about them, though."

"Weird," I said, shrugging. "You're smart to get out, then." Hey, if Kristen Stewart could flirt her way into gaining information, so could I. "You were great out there, by the way," I added, changing the tone of the conversation.

"Yeah?" he asked, grinning at me.

"Yeah, the _best_ player on the field." I gave him a flirty smile. "We should totally go out sometime."

"I'd like that," Matt said. "We have a lot in common."

I nodded absent-mindedly. _We have a lot more in common than you think. _

* * *

I drove myself home after the game, going over everything that had happened in my mind. What Matt said, what Brittany said, and what it all meant for the future. And to top it all off, I _still_ had a math test tomorrow. The thought made me wince as I recalled how I had treated Brittany after the game.

I sighed as I trudged up the stairs to my room, noticing my house was empty, _again_. While I was glad that my parents weren't home to notice me being gone all the time, sometimes I kind of wished that they would notice me _at all_.

No sooner had I opened my window to let some air into my stuffy bedroom than Duck Brittany landed on the carpet and began to change.

"Britt," I sighed, not ready for the conversation that I knew had to take place, "Isn't it a little late? Can we do this tomorrow?"

_[No,]_ She said firmly. She continued transforming, but this time, instead of the half-naked look she usually sported, she appeared with a tight shirt and dance pants.

"You got clothes?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

She looked down at her outfit. "Yes, Mercedes took me."

I felt a pang of jealousy go through me at the thought that Mercedes took her shopping, because _I _was going to do that.

_Stop thinking that way! _

"Well, they look good. You look… nice," I finished lamely.

"Thank you." She moved closer, into my space. I shifted back slightly. Her eyes never left mine. Her gaze was intense, the blue of her eyes clear and sharp. It was a little intimidating and I felt slightly overwhelmed.

"Britt?" I started nervously.

"Yes?"

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I-" She hesitated for a moment. "I feel… weird, when I'm around you, San," she confessed quietly.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, it's like… It's like how I felt when I was in Sam's body around you."

I raised my eyebrows in complete shock. "You're attracted to me?" I swallowed hard, processing her words. That made sense when she was in Sam's body, but now…

She nodded.

"That's- impossible," I murmured, more to myself than to her. "Are you sure?"

"It's true," she said, a desperate undertone in her voice. Her determined gaze was willing me to believe her. She continued to struggle to explain how she felt, and I listened half-heartedly, but I was lost in my thoughts. Did she have some lingering feelings left from when she was Sam? Was that it? I mean, her form was composed of his partial DNA, so I guess that made sense.

I was completely deep in my own thoughts, so I was totally unprepared for when her lips collided with mine.

"Britt!" I gasped, pulling away at the shock of her lips touching my lips. Shit, that had felt good. _Too_ good. Oh, God, was _I_ totally fucked.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked curiously. Her expression was a cross between innocent and completely sexy. Her blue eyes were darker now, clouded, and her mouth was parted slightly, her breath coming in rapid pants even though our lips had barely grazed. Her reaction was an uninhibited version of the one I was currently suppressing; I had had my entire life of experience controlling my human emotions, but she had none. She was like an open book, and I had to admit, it was kind of refreshing.

Oh, and unfortunately completely attractive.

"Have I done something offensive?" she asked when I didn't answer her right away, her voice smaller, holding slight confusion this time. Her eyebrows scrunched together in worry, but the rest of her expression didn't change. She was still eyeing me like I was something she wanted, and the thought made a shiver run down my spine.

"No, it felt good," I murmured, answering her first question since I barely had time to process the second one. I slowly reached up to touch my lips, which were still tingling, and brushed my fingertips over my lower lip. Then for some reason my brain finally caught up with the rest of me and I realized what I had just admitted. _Shit_. Why did I say that?

"Then why did you stop?" she breathed, moving her face closer in an attempt to kiss me again. I stopped her with my hands on her shoulders.

"It felt _too_ good," I confessed.

This time she looked completely confused. "I don't understand," she said, a slight hint of frustration evident in her tone. For some reason it made me frustrated, as well.

"It's not _supposed_ to _feel good_, Brittany."

"What?" She scrunched her face up in disbelief, then smiled and laughed. "Then why do humans do it so often? I've seen Sam and Mercedes kissing and it seemed to feel good for them."

"What? Nevermind, unimportant right now," I gave her a slightly confused look. When had she seen Samcedes kissing? I thought back to earlier in the day, when she said she was with Mercedes and Sam before she found me after the football game. Did seeing them inspire her to do this? I mean it's not like Samcedes was some big secret, because please, they're about as inconspicuous as an elephant hiding behind a telephone pole. I inwardly rolled my eyes.

"Has it never felt good for you before?" Brittany whispered, her expression softening suddenly in realization.

Was _that_ it? Was that why I was freaking out? Was it because I had kissed so many people for various lengths of time and it had never given me the absolute _joy_ that was present when I kissed Brittany for all of half of a second?

Was I freaking out because she was a girl?

Or because she was an alien?

"No," I breathed in a shy, tiny voice. Suddenly realizing my feelings was kind of a huge deal, and it was a little scary.

Slowly, as if she was afraid doing it fast would scare me, Brittany reached up and cupped my face, her thumb stroking my cheek. It was the same thing I had done to her to comfort her the night before, and it had her desired effect- her touch soothed me, and I relaxed slightly.

As weird as it is for _me_ to kiss a girl alien, in Brittany's perspective, she was also kissing a girl alien. I had no clue how Andalites felt about homosexuality, or inter-species relationships, either, but I hoped that if they were as advanced as they were in space and technology, they were equally as advanced in their open-mindedness.

She moved even closer, until we were practically hugging, but she still had one hand cradling my face, sliding her other arm around my waist and pulling me into her. I hesitantly returned her hug, wrapping my arms around her waist and pressing my hands into her lower back, enjoying the physical closeness of her for a moment.

Okay, so Brittany was obviously hot. I knew that from day one. And she wasn't really an alien if she was a human, right? It's not like I was in love with her and wanted to make lady babies with her, it was simply a completely physical attraction to a completely human form who happened to be a girl. Which, actually, wasn't really that much of a surprise, I'd known I was attracted to girls for a while… I'd just never actually acted on it, or met a girl that could evoke the kind of desire I felt when I looked at Brittany.

Even now, having her pressed up against me was making me slightly uncomfortable. I shifted slightly and she turned her head, her lips pressing into my neck.

I swallowed, an action which I'm sure she felt since her face was buried into my neck. She moved her head and I felt her moist lips press against my jaw, and I inhaled my breath slowly, trying to calm my racing pulse.

"Santana," she murmured. "I want to kiss you again."

I squeezed my eyes closed. She's not an alien if she's a human right?

"Okay," I breathed, and she pulled back a little to look at me.

"Really?" she asked, resting her forehead against mine, the hand that was on my jaw sliding down to hold my chin gently. Jesus, how many romance movies had she watched?

I nodded slightly, and she grinned before she leaned forward to kiss me again.

* * *

The next day was Friday, obviously, and I was surprised that Sam had called us together to discuss Transformers business, especially since we were supposed to be taking some time off so he could recover from his traumatic infestation by aliens (yes, this is my life now.) Puck had passed the message to me in the hallway that we were meeting in the usual spot at the edge of the woods after school that night, and I had practically cursed him out- another weekend wasted on Transformers _bullshit_.

"Oh, come on, like you have anything better to do," Puck scoffed as he strutted away down the hall. "Don't shoot the messenger."

Nope, but I had definitely planned on shooting _someone_. Just because I didn't _actually_ have anything better to do didn't mean I hadn't _thought_ about having something better to do!

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I called a meeting," Sam told us once we were gathered in the usual meeting spot, out by the woods near his house.

Wow, it's like he read my mind!

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What happened to _rest_, Trouty?"

Sam shook his head slightly. "This is important. Too important to wait on. When the Yeerk was in my head, when it was dying… Well, it kind of let some information slip through, and I think we should check it out."

"What kind of information?" Kurt asked warily.

"I'm not completely sure… I only know that it has something to do with that company, Cibbo Corporation, and the upcoming campaign for governor. I'm just not positive what connection it has to New Directions."

Cibbo Corp… Wait a minute-

"Oh, shit!" I said suddenly, standing up. "I was talking to Matt about this, like, _literally_ yesterday. He was going to join New Directions a while ago, remember? Well, I was trying to gain some information from him at the football game, and he told me that New Directions is funded by someone connected to Cibbo, that they get all their money from them. I mean, come on, the Triple R isn't the most glamorous place to host a meeting, but it still costs a lot to maintain."

"Cibbo indirectly funds New Directions?" Mercedes asked in disbelief. "I didn't see that coming."

"Me either," Puck muttered in agreement.

"Hmm, this is big, guys," Sam said with barely contained excitement. "If we can figure out who owns Cibbo Corporation-"

"Al Motta," Kurt deadpanned. "Don't you read the New York Times? He's only the most talked-about entrepreneur of the last six months."

"Impressive," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"He's also apparently made of gold," Puck added.

_[That is highly improbable,] _Brittany scoffed.

I laughed, shooting her a grin. She smiled her Andalite smile back at me, the one that seemed to be through her eyes.

"Anyways, getting back on track," Sam said, ignoring Brittany's comment. "I think we should find out where Al Motta lives and pay a little visit to his house."

Kurt sighed loudly. "Seriously? What would you guys _do_ without me?"

"Be infinitely cooler," I interjected.

Puck snickered and gave me a high five. Brittany looked like she was trying not to laugh. Sam gave Kurt an apologetic look, but he was smiling.

Kurt looked unamused. "Al Motta's house is not far from here. Though it might take us a while to _fly_ there."

"Can you get us an address?" Sam asked. At Kurt's affirming nod, he smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Awesome. I think we should check this out. We can do it tomorrow, unless any of you has any previous engagements?"

We all shrugged and shook our heads and I inwardly rolled my eyes at how pathetic we all were for having no lives outside of Transformers.

"Excellent," Sam murmured. "We meet here tomorrow morning, bright and early."

"And again I ask, Trouty- what happened to _rest_?"

* * *

Conveniently, Al Motta's address was pretty close to our home town after all. Obviously I can't exactly tell you where that is, for reasons you should, if you've been following the story I'm telling you at _all_, know by now.

We changed into our various bird morphs and flew in the direction that Google Maps had pointed us. I'd thought about driving us, but let's be honest, gas is expensive and we're in a recession. And flying is way cooler. So that thought definitely only lasted for about half a second before it was voted off of the island.

_[Where did you guys get predator bird forms?] _Sam whined as he struggled to keep up in his pigeon form.

_[If we told you, we'd have to kill you,] _I said solemnly.

_[Sam, my form is not a predator, and it's quite energetic. Perhaps you could acquire my form?] _Brittany suggested.

_[Wank-y,]_ I sang in their heads.

_[My bird form is the coolest,] _Puck bragged. He was like, an eagle or something. Not the bald one. The other one. _[It's a shame Kurt didn't get a flamingo as his form.]_

_[Oh, ha-ha,] _Kurt said dryly. _[Soooo clever.]_

_[And rude,] _Mercedes chimed in.

_[But funny,] _I defended. _[And probably true.] _

_[I mean, did you guys go to the zoo? To the reserve? I don't get it,] _Sam muttered, continuing to obsess over our birds.

_[Jeez, give it a rest. Why are you bringing this up _now_? We've been in bird forms together like, the last three missions we've been on.]_

_[Guys, I'm a _pigeon_.] _Sam complained.

_[But you're the best pigeon I've ever seen,] _Brittany complimented seriously, which only caused the rest of us to laugh even harder.

_[My life sucks,] _Sam continued. _[My family thinks I'm on drugs, and my football team is disappointed in my performance. And for _some_ reason everyone thinks I'm dating _Santana_.]_

* * *

We reached the outskirts of the Motta Mansion a little after 1pm.

Wait, did I say _mansion_? I meant _mansions, plural_. There were at least a half dozen different buildings. It looked like a small college campus. There were guest houses, several garages, tennis courts, a boathouse with an extravagant boat parked on a good-sized lake, a pool bigger than my entire house in the shape of the Cibbo logo… I mean the place just went on and on. The driveway was longer than my street.

_[This guy has got it made,] _Puck marveled as we flew over the complex. _[Someday, that'll be me.]_

_[Who'll be you? The guy mowing the grass down there?] _I said.

There was a map on the Motta website of the main mansion, along with a big flashing box that advertised tours, which were given daily at 2pm. That was our ticket past the security, which was pretty intense for a business owner (Seriously? Who has three separate fences and _isn't_ paranoid?) and once inside, we could hopefully find a place to transform and do some further scoping for any evidence that connected this guy to New Directions.

If not, it was going to be Plan B time.

We decided that Kurt and Brittany would once again fly surveillance while Sam and I went on the tour. Puck and Mercedes would linger behind in case we needed back up. It was just too much to risk all of us in human form, together. Even if it was a different city.

Sam and I changed back to our natural human forms and walked to the collection point outside the outer-most fence to wait for the tour. We had tried to wear skintight outfits that didn't make us look like Dr. Seuss characters, but instead we just looked like we were hardcore exercise enthusiasts. Not sure that was much better.

"Hey, hey, kids," a security guard called as Sam and I approached the gate. He made his way over to us. "What're you doing here?"

"Uh. We're here for the tour," Sam said, keeping his eyes lowered to avoid being recognized later in case some shit went down. It helped that he had long bangs.

"Where are your shoes?" The security guard ("Ken," his nametag read) asked us, pointing down to our feet.

I looked down stupidly at my bare feet and did what I do best. "We don't wear shoes," I said with conviction. "It destroys the natural bond that our feet have with the Earth. Why would we want to wear _shoes_?"

Ken seemed completely weirded out. I didn't blame him, because, _what I said_. But he had a job to do. "No shoes, no entry."

"I don't see a sign," Sam pointed out.

"I'm _telling_ you," Ken growled.

"Are you oppressing us?" I asked angrily. If I was going to make this work, I had to _commit_. "I have just as much right _not_ to wear shoes as _he_-" I pointed my finger at some random person waiting for entry as well, "has to wear them. My feet's rights will not be stifled!" I shook my fist in the air dramatically. "If there's no sign, that means Mr. Motta obviously cares for my right to not wear shoes. Unlike _you_."

"This man's oppressing us!" Sam hollered, gathering the attention of the crowd of tour-goers. The whole thing was completely ridiculous, but Ken looked nervous, and more importantly, he was facing a small group of people that were starting to murmur about "oppression" and "bigotry."

I smirked at Ken. "Look, I'm pretty sure you'd like to keep your job," I started in a demanding tone. "So we can keep this misunderstanding to ourselves. I'd hate to see Mr. Motta's good reputation connected to such serious things like _racism_ and _hate crimes _because of _you_."

"But what does that have to do with-"

"Just let us go in, and we can put all of this behind us. We just want to see a tour, after all. But I should point out that my mother's a lawyer, and she _loves_ cases like this."

Ken blinked at us, completely dumbstruck. He nodded slowly, warily watching the expressions of the people that were gathered around watching.

I smiled sweetly at Ken and thanked him for his cooperation and dedication to our Mother Earth-bonding cause, and entered the gate, flanked by the spectators.

"We have _got_ to plan shit like this better," Sam muttered next to me.

"Who you tellin'?"

* * *

Al Motta was proving to me every minute that he was, in fact, a very paranoid man. Besides having his property lined with three fences, at all the corners of the fences there was a guard tower. At the outer-most fence, the guards had automatic rifles. But by the inner-most fence, Brittany had informed us via thought-speech that the guns in the towers were actually Dracon cannons, which definitely alerted us that we weren't dealing with a normal human being. Sam and I couldn't answer, but we were included in the conversations that the others were having.

"And here is where Mr. Motta conducts all his business!" Theresa, the most annoying lady I'd ever been forced to listen to, prattled on. She was the tour guide so it was kind of her job to talk, but man, was she grating. It didn't help on my already tense nerves that Brittany kept going on and on about the security, which only made my stomach knot tighter and tighter.

_[Dracon cannons are inferior to Andalite shredders,] _Brittany explained somewhat arrogantly. I rolled my eyes but smiled anyway. Sam caught my gaze and mirrored my expression. _[The Yeerks have simply made minor modifications to our technology to suit their own purposes.]_

_[If it's so inferior then why haven't the Andalites won yet?] _Puck challenged.

_[Why haven't humans eradicated influenza?] _Brittany shot back. _[The Yeerks spread faster than we can contain them. There are simply too many, and we were unprepared for their escape into the universe. We-] _she paused. _[We are doing our best.]_

_['Escape?'] _Kurt wondered.

"And over here is where Mr. Motta likes to enjoy his evening paper," Theresa said cheerfully, opening a door to show us into yet another dull room of the mansion. Several people in our group ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the plush carpet and fancy décor, but I stayed near the back, pulling Sam to my side.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," I whispered heatedly. "When should we make our move?"

"Soon," Sam whispered back, sounding equally impatient. "When she takes the tour around that next corner, hang back and we'll slip in to that last room, the 'business' one. I didn't see any cameras in there. "

"Finally," I breathed. I waited as Theresa talked about the imported-from-Holland curtains or whatever, when suddenly there came some commotion.

_[Aaaaggghhh!]_

Sam and I both jumped at the sound, and I was immediately on edge. It took me a moment to realize that only Sam and I reacted. My heart was racing.

_[Puck! What happened?!] _Mercedes cried in our heads.

[_Oww, fuck! I don't know, I was trying to get closer and something zapped me,]_ Puck groaned.

_[Are you all right?] _Kurt asked.

_[I can't move,] _Puck wailed. _[_Fuck_, that hurt!] _Sam and I exchanged worried glances. Talk about tension.

_[I'm going in!]_

_[Mercedes, no!] _Brittany cautioned. _[Obviously this Motta has constructed some kind of force field to protect his mansion. He must be expecting us.]_

_[Well we have made somewhat of a reputation with Visser Seven,] _Kurt agreed. _[And if he's working with the Yeerks, he _would_ guard against an Andalite attack.]_

_[But what about Puck?] _Mercedes demanded. _[We can't just leave him!]_

_[Puck should regain feeling soon,]_ Brittany said calmly.

_[How can you tell?] _Kurt asked.

_[There are no other dead birds on the ground at the base of the force field,]_ Brittany explained, like the answer was obvious. _[Which means they must've regained feeling and flew away.]_

I smirked. My smart girl.

_[I see him,] _Mercedes called. _[Puck! Just stay there! You can't transform, people can see you!]_

_[I can't move, anyway, so I guess I have to,] _Puck snapped.

"Sam," I insisted as the tour group finally began to move.

"Right," he nodded. "Time for us to get involved. Let's go."

We lingered back, taking hesitant steps. Mindful of the cameras that were in the hallways, we kept our heads down, and once we were sure we hadn't been spotted slipping away, we moved quickly back to the business room and slipped inside.

Once we closed the door, we did another check of the room.

"No cameras," Sam confirmed.

"So what do we do? Are we still going with Plan A, or..?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Puck's down, but we knew there was security. He's not out for good. We have to find something connecting Cibbo to New Directions."

I looked at the desk in the room. "We can start with this room." I moved over to the huge piece of mahogany and began trying the drawers, but they were all locked. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

"I guess we'd better transform," Sam said from behind me.

"What do you think? Small? Or small-_er_?" I said with a smirk.

"We need mobility," Sam said. "We just don't have enough time to buzz around here all day."

"Good point. Okay, then."

I closed my eyes and focused on the change.

I was going mouse.

* * *

Minutes later I was a black, domesticated rodent. I was a little over 3 inches long, not including my tail, with sleek fur and tiny whiskers. I could move pretty quickly, had great reflexes and most importantly, good senses. I had tested the form out before when I acquired it, but I had never used it on a mission.

Right now, the room was quiet, and so was the mouse brain. The mouse wanted to look for food, and possibly to find someplace dark to hide. It didn't like being out in the open.

_[Sam?] _I called.

_Movement! _

The mouse brain startled. _Run! Run!_

I fought the urge to scurry away as Sam, in lizard form, made his way over to me.

_[Here,] _he said. _[Nice avatar.]_

_[Lizard? Really?] _I asked.

_[I can climb walls,] _he defended.

He had a point.

_[Okay, then, we can take opposite sides of the hall.] _

We both scampered over to the door, and carefully squeezed under it. I poked my tiny mouse head out into the hallway and listened for the vibrations that would tell me someone was approaching. When I didn't hear anything, I wriggled the rest of my body out from under the door and took off down the hall.

_[Guys, we're small. We're heading to the opposite side of the mansion,]_ Sam called out to the others as he kept pace with me.

_[Okay, I'll try to spot you,] _Kurt called.

_[Puck's recovering,] _Mercedes reported.

_[Barely,] _Puck groaned. _[God, remind me to never do that again.]_

_[Don't do that again,] _Brittany said monotonously.

I laughed. _[Serves you right, asshat.] _I stopped as I reached the edge of the wall, signaling a turn in the hallway. I waited for a moment, but it was still silent so I turned the corner and continued to book it down the hall.

After a few minutes we reached the lobby, and I could hear murmured voices talking. I didn't pay much attention to what they were saying, but they were standing directly in my path of travel. I waited for them to move, and then carefully scampered across the lobby.

"Aaah!" some lady shrieked, and I froze, expecting hands to start reaching for me or Sam at any moment. "I loooove this painting!"

_[Is she for real?] _I grouched. _[What is she, twelve?]_

_[Definitely thought we were busted,] _Sam agreed.

We continued to the other side of the mansion, and we squeezed under several doors, looking for anything suspicious. I don't know what we expected, but this guy didn't even have a secret meth lab. Not that a meth lab would've helped, but at least it would have been _something_. I was quickly getting frustrated, and what's more, we were running out of time. The others had already re-transformed to re-start their time limits, but it would be twilight soon.

_[Ugh! Come on! This guy _has_ to have some dirt on him!] _I complained as Sam and I inspected yet another empty room. _[I'm starting to think nobody _actually_ lives here!]_

_[We need another approach,] _Sam agreed.

_[Plan B?] _I asked hopefully.

He chuckled. _[Not quite yet. Kurt, have you guys found anything?]_

_[Not sure,] _Kurt called. _[I think… I think there might be something in this one building. I've been watching it for the past forty minutes. The armed guards keep glancing nervously around and patrolling it, and no one has entered or exited it all day, at least that I've seen. Might be where they _actually_ live.]_

_[It's worth checking out,]_ Sam decided.

_[There's no _creeping_ in to that place, though,] _Kurt warned. _[Like I said, its heavily guarded.]_

_[Sounds perfect,] _I said happily. _[We'll be right there.]_

_[Are you two planning what I think you're planning?] _Mercedes asked carefully.

_[Yep,] _I said as I started the change back to human. _[Puck, are you-]_ I was cut off as my thought-speech ability ended, but Puck got my message.

_[I'm in,] _he said. _[Let's do this shit.]_

Sam changed from lizard to human (which was creepy to watch, let me tell you) and once he was back to his normal, guppy-faced self, he grinned. "Guess your wish came true, after all. You ready?"

I smirked, and thought about my favorite form. You would think transforming would be some gradual thing, like one minute you're a person and the next you're a dog or whatever. But it doesn't work like that. Different things happen at different times, and it's never the same twice. It's almost always disgusting-looking. The only one who's managed to make transforming attractive is Brittany, but I guess that's just because she's an Andalite.

I focused on the cheetah's DNA inside me and felt the changes begin. Luxurious, spotted, tan fur spread across my skin like a wave. My spine elongated into a tail, and whiskers shot out from my face.

"Attractive," Sam joked, but he was already bulking up into the form of a gorilla, and coarse, black fur was spreading across his body.

Once we were changed, Sam told the others to meet us at the building, because it was time for Plan B.

I smiled, which, as a cheetah, came out more like I was baring my teeth. Sam picked up a chair with his massive gorilla hands and gently threw it through the window, smashing it. Somewhere in the distance, an alarm triggered.

_[Let's get out of here,] _he said, knuckle-walking over to the window.

I leapt through the window gracefully, clearing the bushes outside, and landed on my feet. When the guards outside saw us, they blinked, bewildered.

_[They must be normal guys,] _I deduced. _[They haven't called us 'Andalites' yet.]_

_[Let's try to avoid them.]_

_[Well, _duh_.]_

_[I meant, so they don't get hurt.]_

_[Also, duh.]_

We made a beeline for the building Kurt had marked, avoiding most of the innocent people and security guards with ease. He called out directions to us every so often, and as we got closer we noticed a clear path of destruction leading up to it. Once we got to the actual building, we saw that one of the walls had already been smashed in, the work of Mercedes in elephant form.

I heard Puck howling and I sped into the room. _[You guys started without me?]_ I raged.

Sam loped in a moment later and we surveyed the damage. It was utter chaos. The guys around _this_ building weren't hesitating, and were opening fire on us. Bullets whizzed past my ears and I crouched down instinctively, moving fluidly. Mercedes had recklessly charged into the building, and she left elephant-sized holes in the walls as she stomped through them.

_[Look out for that wall!] _Sam said as she approached another one.

_[Wall? _What_ wall?] _Mercedes asked triumphantly. She trumpeted her trunk and walked through the wall like it was made of paper. Which, I guess it kind of was, being sheetrock and all. I followed in her wake, trying to avoid the gunfire that was getting increasingly more intense.

Puck was ahead of us, tearing into guys' hands, trying to get them to drop their weapons. He yelped as a bullet found him in the leg and Sam dropped his fist into that guy's stomach, downing him instantly. I slashed at another dude's arm and he dropped his rifle with a loud curse.

"I don't get paid enough for this!" he cried, dashing quickly out of the building.

_[Nope, definitely don't,] _I agreed.

_[Where's all the Dracon beams?] _Puck demanded. _[Why are they using real bullets?] _

_[Not sure, but be grateful,] _Sam said tersely as he punched another guy in the face. The guy hit the ground like a sack of flour, and stayed on the ground like a sack of flour.

_[Where's Mercedes?] _I asked, noticing suddenly that I didn't see her big gray behind blocking my entire field of vision.

_[How hard is she to lose, she's an _elephant_,] _Puck muttered, dashing through the huge holes. We followed the path of destruction deeper into the house.

_[I really hope this guy's a Yeerk, or I'm gonna feel bad,] _Sam muttered as we continued to leap over piles of wrecked furniture and plaster.

_[He can afford a new house,] _I said nonchalantly.

_[Not the point,] _Kurt said grimly.

When we reached the final room, we were greeted with the confusing sight of Mercedes, now in her human form, standing very still. Next to her stood a petite-framed girl with dirty blonde hair kept in place by a headband. She looked young, younger than _me_, and she had a confident smirk on her face.

Because in her hand was a Dracon beam, and it was pressed to Mercedes' head.

* * *

**First off, I have a confession- one of my favorite lines from the book I based this plot from is included in this, and it's the "Someday that'll be me/Who'll be you?" line. Hilarious Animorphs is hilarious! And if you guys have like, a year to spare collecting and reading an incredibly long series that has a lot of inconsistency, a lot of filler books, and no sex (dealbreaker?) but is still completely entertaining and deep, ANIMORPHS IS FOR YOU.**

**And that's all I have to say about that!**

**Review if you feel so inclined, or not! See you next Monday! :D**


	6. Perturbed

**Hi, guys. :)**

**It's Monday, and I'm back! Like herpes! :D **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it. I recieved some questions about where this story will go- that is to say, how closely it will follow the Animorphs storyline- and to that I will answer: while this _is_ based on Animorphs, I'm trying not to copy it _exactly._ I don't think the _Glee_ kids would respond in the same way to the same situations, and plus I like exploring other aspects of the situations that weren't necessarily covered in the books. So hopefully it will be a new adventure, but with a little bit of a nostalgic Animorphs feel, which is what I'm going for. :) So far I have about 15 chapters plotted out, but depending on how carried away I get with the specific plots I want to cover, it might go for longer, idk. **

**If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask about the story, feel free to PM me! I don't generally answer questions in reviews because I guess I assume those are people's "talking out loud" speculations that don't necessarily want answers, but if you DO want an answer, let me know. I'll hit you back. **

**Also, if you have any questions about Animorphs-related things I mention, you can, of course, ask me- but Seerowpedia, the Animorphs wiki, is pretty great for people who aren't an Animorphs encyclopedia like I am. ;)**

**And on that note, I'm done talking! Woo hoo!**

* * *

We were at a stalemate.

_[Guys! What's going on in there?] _Kurt called.

_[We have a… situation,] _Sam said tersely.

_[Brittany's on her way,] _Kurt assured.

We stood in our various avatars, tensed, crouched and ready to pounce, but held back by the fact that the girl still had the Dracon beam pointed at Mercedes. The Controller girl looked calm, but I knew better. I could see the slight trembling in her hand as she held the Dracon beam. Mercedes looked a cross between scared and apologetic.

Brittany arrived suddenly and paused, scanning the room and earning a glare from the girl.

"Shouldn't there be one more?" she asked smoothly. It was the first thing she had said, and not gonna lie, her voice was annoying. It was like nails on a chalk board.

_[No, we are all that there is,] _Sam answered.

"Don't _lie_ to me! I know there's one more! Now get him here, _now_!" she yelled suddenly, her finger tightening on the trigger.

_Shit_, this girl was whacked the fuck out. My cheetah hissed out of instinct and the girl raised her eyebrow at me.

_[Kurt, we need you down here, _now_,]_ Sam called, his voice strained with tension.

_[On my way!]_

A few tense moments passed and Kurt swooped in daintily.

_[Oh my god! It's Sugar Motta!] _he said, coming to land gracefully on a pile of wrecked furniture.

_[Who?] _I asked.

_[Al Motta's daughter, honestly, did you do _any_ research?] _he asked, irritated.

I didn't answer; instead, Sugar (really, what kind of person names their kid after a cooking ingredient?) smiled.

"That's better," she said, pleased. She paused for a moment and studied us. She lowered the Dracon beam slightly. "So you're not Andalites after all."

_[What makes you think that?] _I demanded.

She laughed and nodded towards Brittany. "You have a young Andalite in her natural form, and the rest of you hide behind Earth animals. Not to mention the fact that _she_," she gestured to Mercedes, "has confirmed that at least one human has the transforming power, since she changed from an elephant."

_[So we're not Andalites,] _Sam agreed.

"Right. And now that I know this information, I'm sure you plan to kill me."

_[Smart girl,] _I confirmed.

She swallowed hard and her eyes narrowed further. "I'm prepared to offer you a deal."

_[Not sure you're in the right position to do that,]_ I pointed out, baring my teeth.

She turned to me and raised her arm again, pointing the Dracon beam more steadily at Mercedes once more.

"Thanks a lot," Mercedes mumbled, glaring at me.

"I think I _am_," Sugar said with a shrug.

_[You've made your point,] _Sam assured._ [What do you want?]_

"To put it bluntly? I want the transforming power."

_[That's impossible,] _Puck growled. _[We're not Andalites.]_

"No, you're not. But you do have one as a pet," she nodded at Brittany, who bristled at the term, "which means you at least have communication capabilities with them. But that raises another question: how did you get the power to begin with?"

Sam hesitated. _[Why should we offer up all of this information, Yeerk?]_

Sugar smirked. "You're right to be cautious. So I suppose I'll take the first step." She lowered the Dracon beam completely.

_[Sam, what the fuck?] _I asked incredulously.

_[I don't know…]_

_[Should we trust her?] _Kurt wondered.

_[She's obviously a Yeerk,] _Brittany sneered, still angry at the 'pet' comment. _[Yeerks are known to be untrustworthy.]_

_[So are humans,] _Kurt pointed out. _[And she's showing us she trusts us, to an extent.]_

_[It could be a trap,] _Puck said.

_[Or she could just be bat shit crazy,] _I said, inwardly rolling my eyes. _[I say we take her out. I can do it in one quick swipe, faster than she can raise her arm.] _I shifted my paws slightly to demonstrate.

_[But then we'll never know what she could offer us,] _Kurt said.

_[True. Guys, we've still got nothing on Cibbo,] _Sam reminded. _[We need something to connect it to New Directions.]_

_[What does that even matter? We've already trashed this house,] _Puck said. _[We know they're connected.] _

_[But we don't know _why_,] _Kurt said impatiently.

_[She has expressed a desire to talk,]_ Brittany said softly.

_[Let's at least hear her out,] _Sam decided.

I sighed, and we focused our attention back on Sugar, who hadn't moved.

_[We will hear you out,] _Sam said finally.

Sugar smiled evilly. "Perfect."

* * *

"I am Brhaad six two six. You may wonder why I, as a Yeerk, have decided to negotiate with Andalites- or at least, Andalite supporters," Sugar started once we reached a secured room. She had led us deeper into the house, much to our nervous dismay. We were all worried about being led into a trap, but with Mercedes still captive, all we could do was follow Sugar and listen to Brittany keep track of the amount of time we'd been transformed, which was growing dangerously close to the limit. We had less than forty minutes left.

I withheld all of my snarky comments in favor of getting her story over with quickly.

"Well, I had a particularly hard upbringing," Sugar continued bitterly. She turned to Brittany. "_You_ may know this, but the humans," she spread her hands to indicate the rest of us, "don't know what it's like. Yeerks are born in the Yeerk pool. In our natural state, we are blind and deaf. Without hosts, we spend our lives there, swimming in the sludge." She made a disgusted face, her gaze angrily fixing on a random spot as she continued, "We are given a host to practice. They train us on how to subdue the host's mind, how to take control, to access their memories and their receptors."

Sam nodded his gorilla head. He knew all about that.

"How can I describe what it's like to _see_? After being blind your whole life?" she asked passionately. "It's like being suddenly awakened to things I had never known existed, having only swam in that miserable, filthy pool. The colors… the textures." She looked overwhelmed. "After all that, how could you ask me to give it up?"

_[How can you ask others to give up their freedom for _you_?] _Brittany interjected. _[Are we to pity you, Yeerk?]_

Sugar glared at her. "I can't change what I am, anymore than _you_ can," she defended. "Oh, wait- you _can_. You have the technology to do so."

_[So that's what this is? You want to escape being a _Yeerk_?] _I asked, appalled.

"Smart girl," Sugar smirked at me, repeating my earlier line. I glared. "Yes, in no _glamorous_ terms, I've grown tired of this life, of the politics of war. Hosts are few, and we are many. I had to work for years to obtain this fragile little girl body," she spat, "and even then, she was only given to me because she was _defective_."

_[Defective how?] _Kurt asked.

Sugar's expression grew dark. "She's got a miserable tongue, which makes her socially undesirable. She's alienated herself from her people."

_[Kind of like you,] _I pointed out.

Sugar smiled. "Kind of like me," she repeated again. "I took this assignment- of course I did, I couldn't go back to life in that pool- and I single-handedly built the Motta name, the wealth. The father is a moron and not worth infesting. A waste of a host." She grew proud. "_I've_ been the one slipping him ideas and making him think they were his own; initiating business meetings that that fool thought were just good fortune dropped into his lap. It was all _me_! And together, Sugar and I have become successful as human _and_ Yeerk. She and I have a partnership."

_[Yeerks don't have partners,]_ Brittany pointed out bitterly.

"You are right, Andalite. But she is _nothing_ without me."

_[So let me get this straight,] _I said. _[You want the transforming power, and in exchange you'll give us…?]_

"Information," Sugar said with a shrug. "I have a completely sustainable and independent way of life out _here_- what do I care if all of those other wretched Yeerks perish? They cared not one fuck for me and what I had to endure to get where I am."

_[Spoken like a true Yeerk,]_ Brittany commented.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sugar snapped.

_[It means you are ruthless,] _Brittany said with a shrug of her delicate shoulder.

Sugar straight up laughed. "_Ruthless_? Coming from an Andalite, that's a fair amount of the pot calling the kettle black!"

Brittany shifted her eyes to Mercedes. _[That's so racist,] _she muttered.

I blinked at her. Sugar ignored her and turned back to me.

"I may be a Yeerk, but that doesn't mean I agree with my people's methods, or their way of life. But I don't want to give up my own life, either," Sugar admitted, turning and fixing a challenging stare at Sam. "Once the Yeerk plague has been removed from this planet, I will be free to live in peace."

I rolled my eyes. I'm pretty sure _peace_ was not what this psycho had in mind, but I withheld my comment.

_[So what would you have us do?] _Sam asked, ever mindful of our time clock ticking away. _[We don't exactly have the transforming power to offer you at the moment.]_

"Have you heard of the campaign for governor? The convention is stopping in this city next week. Visser Seven is obviously going to make his move to infest the candidates," Sugar explained.

_[What?] _Kurt exclaimed. He kind of had a lot at stake- after all, his father was running, and he was the more popular vote.

_[Yes, that matches information we obtained from another… source,] _Sam said, much more calmly than Kurt. _[But how? What's his plan?]_

Sugar narrowed her eyes, studying Sam. "Another source?" She paused, then decided to continue when Sam didn't answer. "Visser Seven has infiltrated security for the event, obviously. He plans to not only infest the candidates, but also the attending politicians. I'm not exactly sure how it's set up- I only have access to certain information- and that's where you come in."

_[So we do surveillance,] _Puck concluded.

Sugar nodded. "Very good. Figure out how to stop it. If you pass this test, I have more information for you, better information. But I have to ensure that I can trust you with it."

Sam nodded.

_[Sam, you are running out of time. You have seven minutes remaining before you are trapped in that form,] _Brittany reminded urgently.

That got us going.

_[We have to transform,] _I stated. _[We've gotta go to bird anyways.]_

_[I'm not sure how I feel about trusting this bitch with my identity, though,] _Puck said warily.

_[No choice,] _Kurt said. _[Besides, she already knows Mercedes. The rest of us will be toast once they find her.]_

_[Good point,] _Sam said. _[All right then. I guess let's do it.]_

We took one deep, almost collective, shaky breath. And one by one, we transformed back to human, starting with me and Sam, who had been transformed the longest.

Brittany stood guard while we changed, and Sugar watched with eager, interested eyes.

"So you're _all_ human kids? Except for the pet Andalite?" she marveled. "I can't believe a group of kids have been giving the Yeerk empire so much trouble."

"And we would've gotten _away_ with it, too," I started to mutter the fitting Scooby Doo line.

Puck laughed nervously under his breath. We were all antsy at standing in front of the enemy in our natural forms. Trusting a Yeerk with our identities is not something we ever planned on doing, but oh well, shit changes.

That's what happens when we do Plan Bs.

* * *

We made it to the corn fields that night before it got too late, completely exhausted. The journey home had been mostly silent as we all were lost in our own thoughts, processing the events that had just transpired.

I know I was running over everything that had happened in my head, replaying each scene. Mostly I was angry that we had been forced into cooperating with that crazy alien slug, and I struggled to come up with ways that _didn't_ end in us being completely at her mercy, not that it helped. What was done was done, but I still felt uneasy trusting someone who was supposed to be our enemy with my identity, especially since that someone was claimed to be untrustworthy.

While the silent trip home was nice, it only gave us more time to come up with shit to freak out about once we landed. The explosion came the second we were back in our own bodies.

"This is _insane_," Puck exploded. He had obviously spent the journey home working himself up into a frenzy of paranoia. "We should've never trusted that bitch. We're _all_ _going to die_."

"While I normally disagree with Puck, I must side with him this time," Kurt agreed. "That Yeerk is absolutely crazy."

"This might've been good stuff to talk about _before_ we left," Sam muttered.

"If we go back now, we can probably catch her before she calls Visser Seven," Puck urged.

"Nope, she definitely already called him," I instigated. "Or her? The Yeerk's male, but he's in Sue's body? That's confusing."

"Yeerks don't have sexes," Brittany interjected, and we all paused for a moment to stare at her questioningly. "Like God," she supplied helpfully with a small smile.

"Why are you in human form?"

She shrugged. "I wanted to fit in."

I smiled at her and subtly reached out to link her pinky in mine, tugging her gently into the circle we had unknowingly made, and ignoring Puck as he continued into another round of freaking out. Brittany looked at our joined pinkies and grinned back at me.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to just have a little faith," Mercedes scolded, and I tuned back into the conversation. "Maybe this could turn out for the best- Sugar obviously has some connections, and revenge can be a pretty powerful motive. As of right now we have _jack_ to go on, other than the info Santana manages to extract through her shady persuasion methods-"

"_Excuse_ me?"

"-and frankly we could use all the help we can get if we want to win this war. Now maybe it's a mistake, but we can't go getting all freaked out over something that hasn't actually happened yet."

"Praise," Kurt said with a genuine smile.

Sam was also smiling, and he caught Mercedes' gaze and the two shared a _moment_. I, however, was about to share my lunch, via my Linda Blair impersonation right there all over the ground if they continued to make those sickening google-y eyes at each other.

I felt pressure on my pinky and realized Brittany had given it a squeeze, and had shifted closer to me. I turned to look at her, and she was still grinning at me, her catlike eyes bright and shining in the moonlight. Ew, how cheesy am _I_? I needed to stop hanging out with Sam and Mercedes, they were rubbing off on me.

"What about the campaign?" Puck asked, bringing us back to the conversation at hand.

"That's right. My Dad could be next in line to be infested, and I'm sorry, I _can't_ allow that to happen," Kurt said with determination I didn't know the little pansy possessed.

"Well we're obviously going to have to scope the place out," Sam reasoned. "Do you know when the special guest speakers will be arriving?"

"I think my dad said Tuesday," Kurt said. "But I can double check."

Sam nodded. "Do that. If you're right, and they _do_ arrive on Tuesday, we can go on Wednesday. We want to know where each person is going to be set up before we check the place out. I want us to find out where they're staying, where they're going to be when the convention starts, _everything_." He turned to Brittany. "You're going to have to help with a lot of this, since we obviously won't have enough time to find out all of that information in our after school hours. So while the rest of us are in school, you can check it out on your own if you don't mind."

Brittany nodded and Puck grinned. "I can help, too- I haven't skipped school this week yet," he said, leering at Brittany. "I'm sure Brittany won't mind some back up."

I glared daggers at Puck and fumed inside while Brittany smiled warmly at him. "Thanks, Puck," she said sweetly, completely oblivious to his ulterior motives.

He flashed her another lecherous grin and I resisted the urge to take the few steps over to him to grab him by his hideous haircut and force him to beg my forgiveness for even _looking_ at Brittany like that. I'm not sure where such strong feelings of protectiveness came from, but I wasn't going to let Brittany, with her innocent disposition, be taken advantage of by the likes of a sleazebag like Puck. I got caught up in my semi-violent fantasy for a moment until I noticed Brittany cringing. It was then that I realized I was squeezing her pinky so tightly it was causing her pain, and I released my grip immediately. I whispered a quick apology, and she offered me a forgiving smile in return as Sam droned on about what teams we would be in for the surveillance mission.

"So Wednesday after school, then?" Sam confirmed, his gaze falling to each of us for our verification that we would be there. We all nodded in turn and went our separate ways, glad to be released. It was fairly early for a Saturday night, but after such a long day, I was looking forward to curling up in my bed and chucking up the deuces to the world for a while.

Sam and Mercedes began to walk slowly back in the direction of his house, to which I raised a knowing eyebrow in response. I chuckled- it gave following the Path of God a whole new meaning. Kurt immediately transformed into his bird form and took off, flying off in the direction of his house.

And Puck strolled up to Brittany.

"So what're you doing tomorrow?" he asked. "It's Sunday, so you know-"

I grabbed him harshly by the ear and tugged him down to my level while Brittany looked on, blinking.

"Ow! Shit!"

"Puck," I started sweetly. "Don't you have a rock to go crawl under?"

"Okay, _fuck_, point taken," he growled. I let go of his ear and he stood up straight. He reached up to rub his ear gingerly, grumbling about me needing to chill the fuck out. I gave him a threatening glare and raised an eyebrow at him impatiently, and he rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay," he mumbled. He began to rapidly change into his eagle form. _[Bitch.]_

I smirked at him. "All day."

He spread his wings. _[Watch it, or I might just shit on you.]_

"You don't have that good of aim."

_[Wanna test that theory?]_

"Wanna keep your balls?"

He didn't answer, but took off, flying up into the night sky. I watched him go for a moment, before I turned back to Brittany, only to find the space where she had been standing vacated of her presence.

"Britt?" I called uncertainly.

I heard some rustling from the edge of the corn stalks and smiled wryly, taking a few light steps toward it. Okay, so she wanted to play? I could do that.

"Brittany?" I asked again, a much more playful tone in my voice. I searched for a moment through some of the tall plants, looking for a flash of the neon-green spandex top Brittany was wearing, or a glimpse of her blonde hair. I heard a giggle to my right and saw her standing between two corn plants, half her face hidden in shadows. She had a playful, teasing smirk on her face, and the way the moonlight struck her, highlighting her hair and skin, made my breath catch in my throat.

I moved towards her, and she took a step back, keeping the distance between us. When I realized she wasn't going to let me get closer, I stopped, and bit my lip teasingly. She raised an eyebrow curiously, waiting to see what I was going to do. I raised one back at her in challenge, and then moved to the left, out of her line of sight and into the next row of seven-foot-tall plants.

I carefully and quickly circled around to try and get behind her, but she shifted her position, making it a lot more challenging. She followed my path, and eventually I picked up my pace, moving away from her. Our roles reversed- now she was chasing me, and I was evading her.

I laughed like an idiot as I zig-zagged through the rows of plants, Brittany doing her best to keep up with me in her human body that, as far as I knew, she hadn't had much practice moving around in other than minor walking at the mall.

_With Puck_.

I pushed away the small twinge of jealousy and concentrated on moving through the plants as silently as I could. I paused for a moment to listen for her approaching footsteps, for her to give away her position by the rustling of the plants, but it was completely silent other than the chirping of some weird bugs in the distance.

I heard a small thump and a rustle from behind me that sounded a lot like someone kicking a fallen cob of corn, and I grinned in anticipation, pretending I hadn't heard it. I didn't want to ruin her surprise attack, after all. In the next instant, I felt arms slide tightly around my shoulders and she pulled me in close to her body.

"Caught you," she giggled.

I turned in her arms, surprised at her boldness, and, laughing, rested my hands on her collarbones. I smiled at her, taking in the lights of the stars reflected in her blue eyes, and her ardent expression. My eyes flicked down to her lips for a moment before returning to hold her gaze, and I swallowed nervously, unsure about where we stood. I mean kissing once didn't mean we would kiss all the time, right? And we certainly couldn't _be_ together, that would involve some kind of emotions, or at least a _talk_, and I definitely wasn't ready to deal with any feelings I had for a _female alien_.

"Do you like being a human?" I asked suddenly.

Her playful smile grew bigger. "It's one of the more enjoyable forms I've been, yes," she answered honestly. "Why do you ask?" She tightened her grip on me and held me closer.

I tried to ignore the fluttering feeling in my stomach at being held so intimately and closely to her. Feeling her warm body pressed against me was making me ache in a very unfamiliar way. "Well," I started, letting my gaze fall to where my fingers rested against the bare skin at the base of her neck; my fingers absently traced a small design there and I heard her breath hitch, "you seem to spend a lot of time as a human, so-"

"I like being with _you_," she clarified in a low tone, resting her forehead against mine. "And it's easiest and most pleasurable to do that when I'm in this form." She leaned forward slightly and kissed me, and I kissed back, a million thoughts running through my mind, but not a single one sticking long enough for me to begin to process it. She made my mind race and go blank at the same time, and my stomach felt like it was going to explode and a swarm of butterflies was going to come flapping out. Her grip on me tightened further, and I slid my arms up around her neck, hearing a strangled noise come from her as I kissed her back more forcefully.

We were pressed flush, and I had unknowingly rolled up to my tiptoes to kiss her back with more fervor. I could hear her breathing picking up, and with my chest pushed up against hers, I could practically feel her heart pounding. Mine was mimicking hers, and before I lost my shit I decided to call it a night.

I pulled back slightly, and she followed, unwilling to let our lips part. "Britt," I mumbled against her lips.

"San," she sighed. I let my forehead fall against hers again.

"It's late."

She gave a small nod, her eyes closed, and she was still practically panting. When she did open her eyes, they were dark and unfocused, darting everywhere, and she licked her lips quickly. "Okay," she said hoarsely. She let go of me and took a step back, placing a hand on her own chest. "I feel like I'm going to die," she gasped, swallowing hard. "Is that normal?"

I chuckled slightly and gave her a confident smile. "I get that a lot." She gave me a confused, somewhat hurt look, and I sighed. "You'll calm down soon, okay?"

She nodded, gazing, unfocused, at the ground next to me, and I fidgeted awkwardly for a moment. "So, um. Tomorrow? Come over if you get bored," I offered lamely. She nodded again and I did what I always did when things got weird.

I flew away.

* * *

On the way home, a thought occurred to me: did we ever actually _go back to the construction site _to look for the cube?

The idea seemed ridiculous, but I know I had definitely never checked myself, and none of the others had mentioned it either. We all just assumed the Yeerks had destroyed all of the evidence, but nobody's perfect, not even murdering aliens.

I decided that, with the site being next to my neighborhood, it couldn't hurt to check it out really quick on the way home. I knew I probably shouldn't have gone back there alone, I mean, it could've been a trap. But I was a tough bitch and I could handle myself. And I really didn't want to have to fly all the way out to someone's house, wait for them to get ready, and then accompany me. It was less hassle this way.

I landed in the strip of woods near my neighborhood and made the change back to my normal self. I knew I definitely didn't want to go poking around the construction site _as_ myself, though- the Yeerks were the _least_ of my problems at the site- but I needed something low profile, so I couldn't exactly go as a cheetah, either. I decided I could go as the next best thing.

I focused on the change, and in less than two minutes, I was gracefully making my way over to the construction site as Lord Tubbington.

Once I made it to the site, I looked for the place where the Andalite's ship had landed. There was nothing left but a small crater. The Yeerks had destroyed all of the evidence of that night, as I predicted, but I refused to give up that easily- there had to be _something_ there, Willi-Whatever wouldn't have let _all_ of it be destroyed, would he?

I kept looking, crawling through pipes and wriggling under piles of lumber, and finally, I found something. It wasn't _the_ cube, the one that gave us the power to transform, but it was a cube. It was much smaller, and instead of blue it was gray, with a tiny switch on the side. I had no clue what it was, but I was going to find out.

I carefully picked it up in my mouth (I looked ridiculous carrying it, I'm sure- only about a corner of it fit in my tiny cat mouth) and ran back to my strip of woods. There was not a soul around, except for a group of slightly younger kids who were obviously about to make a drug deal. Hey, some people just _look_ suspicious.

I changed back to human and contemplated the cube. It was smooth on all sides, except for the side with the switch. It had no identifiable markings but it definitely _seemed_ otherworldly, don't ask me how. It could've been a bomb for all I knew, an _alien_ bomb, so I decided that perhaps I should carry it to a more secluded spot before I attempted to operate it. I wasn't really that into the idea of blowing up my neighborhood. I needed my wardrobe, after all.

So, back as Lord T, I took the cube in my mouth once again and took off, heading for a small patch of woods that wasn't exactly the strip near my house, but wasn't the utter wilds that Brittany lived in. It took me a good twenty minutes of running at a steady pace to reach them, and once I reached a decent enough spot between some trees and I was sure I was alone, I changed back to myself and sat down carefully next to a tree.

I stared at the cube. It was either a bomb, and it was going to blow up when I pressed the switch, or it was a transmitter that might somehow alert the Yeerks that someone touched it, and would call them straight to my location. Either way, I was probably dead. There was a very small chance that it wasn't either of those things, but it was safer to assume otherwise. The thought of bringing it to Brittany first crossed my mind, but I had just left her with an excuse that it was late, so it probably wouldn't look good for me to return like, "Hey I know I said it was late but I decided to go look for some evidence instead and found this, what is it?"

So I might as well hit the switch, right?

I contemplated my life for a moment. I hoped that if it was a bomb, it would beep for a few minutes before it exploded, and give me some time to get away. Bombs did that, right? Okay, well maybe they didn't always do that, and it was an _alien_ bomb, but-

_Okay, now I'm stalling_.

I took a deep breath, and hit the switch.

* * *

I don't know what I expected to happen when I hit that switch- okay, I'm lying, I literally just spent the last five minutes telling you that I thought it was an alien bomb- but I definitely did not expect what actually did happen. At all.

Once I hit the switch, the cube vibrated for a second, and a light beam shot out of a tiny hole near the switch that I hadn't noticed before. The light made a projection of an Andalite, like a 3D picture, so it almost looked like I was looking at a real Andalite, only in miniature edition.

"A hologram?" I asked the cube. Then I felt silly. I mean, I was talking to a cube.

It didn't answer, of course. Well, it _did_, but not the question I asked it.

_[I am Willi-Amschu-Ester,] _the fun-sized Andalite hologram said, and it suddenly clicked that the Andalite in the hologram _did_ seem vaguely familiar (give me a break, I met him for less than an hour, _weeks_ ago), _[and this is my _hirac delest_.]_

"What?" I muttered, staring hard at the hologram of Willi-Amschu-Ester. (Hah! I got his name right, finally.)

He didn't pause to answer my questions, since it was pre-recorded, but he began to tell me about his life. He was a teacher, but had been recruited by the military once the war started when he was a young adult Andalite. He taught music or something (who knew Andalites liked music? How did they even make music without mouths? Well, okay, I guess they could play harps or something. They'd probably be good at it with all those fingers- Okay, hold up, getting off subject here.) He told me about how his wife, Shelbii-Cork-Oraan, was a scientist, but was killed by an explosion caused by a Yeerk attack on some planet like a bajillion light years away from Earth. I obviously had never heard of it.

It was then, with his wife dead and no children, that he lost his fighting spirit, and, with it gone, he was expelled from the military. He was given the special detail mission that eventually led him to Earth, which ultimately resulted in his death.

_[…then that I met Britta-Nysp-Ierce,]_ he was saying. I tuned completely back in to his story. Hopefully he'd mention something about their mission_. [She was assigned to me because of my… patience. She is a very difficult young Andalite, but her particular _gifts_ make her invaluable to our mission, and-]_

_**Click**_**.**

The hologram shut off suddenly and I looked up at the biggest Andalite I had ever seen. Well, out of the three that I _had_ seen.

"Shit!" I said, genuinely surprised. _Definitely_ didn't expect to be looking up at an Andalite.

His tail snapped to my throat faster than I could blink. I sat very still, staring into his glaring eyes. His tail vibrated with tension and I swallowed.

_[You are not an Andalite,] _he seethed. _[Nor are you a Yeerk. _Again_, this is a waste of my time.]_ He pulled his tail back and took a step back, pawing the ground angrily with one of his front hooves. His hands were clenched into fists, one of them holding the cube.

"Hey, _honey_- that's mine," I said, feeling a lot braver (_read_: _stupider_) now that his sharp tail blade wasn't pressed to my jugular. Of _all_ the things I could say to this guy…

_[Not anymore,] _he told me, rage dripping from each syllable in my head. _[Humans have no business with an Andalite holocube.]_

"But I knew that Andalite!" I protested.

He looked at me incredulously. _[You did?]_

"Yeah, that was Willi-Amschu-Something," I mumbled with less confidence. "He gave me-" I paused, remembering what Brittany said about Willi breaking the law to give us the transforming power, and decided to keep that information to myself. I gestured to the cube, "His _kayak vest_."

The Andalite assessed me like I was a piece of shit he had stepped in, and now had to deal with scraping off his hoof. I assessed him, too. He was much larger than Willi-What's-His-Name (so _sue_ me, I can't remember his name every time, be thankful I got it at all) and his fur was longer, darker. The blade on his tail was bigger, and he had a far more muscular upper body as well, though his lower body, the deer part, was a little rounded. Almost like a small cow.

_[My name is Dafydd-Karof-Scee,] _he said, almost like his name was a threat and I should know who he was. I raised an eyebrow in response. _[I have been on this wretched planet for weeks, since our Dome Ship, the Azimio, was destroyed in a space battle with the Yeerks. However, it seems I have landed isolated from the rest of the survivors. I have been trying to unsuccessfully contact them. My tracking device picked up the energy signal from the holocube, and I came here-]_

"-hoping to find other Andalites," I concluded. He continued to glare at me, offended that I'd interrupted him. "Well, there _is_ another Andalite among us," I offered with a shrug. "Perhaps you'd want to take _her_ with you?"

My heart sank as I realized what I had just said. I had just offered for Brittany to leave, something I really _didn't_ want. But I also didn't want to be selfish- she was an Andalite, far from her own people, and she belonged with them. And yeah, okay, she'd had nothing really positive to say about them, but that could be a result of being separated from them. She deserved the chance to choose, right? I couldn't take that choice away from her.

_[And who is that?] _Dafydd demanded, interrupting my troubling thoughts.

"Britta-Nysp-Ierce," I said with far less enthusiasm, though admittedly a little proud that I had managed to get her whole name right, and with my human mouth. I smiled a little at the thought, but my moment was ruined by Dafydd's roaring laughter.

_[That- that _vecisth_?] _He laughed. _[Take her with _me_? Why in _yaolin_ would I want to do such a _moronic_ thing?]_

"I have no clue what any of that means," I said, frustrated, through gritted teeth. I didn't appreciate being laughed at, and even though I didn't understand _exactly_ what Dafydd had said about Brittany, I understood his _tone_. And it wasn't a nice one. "What's a vec- a _vecisth_?"

He fixed his hard stare on me, his dark, hazel eyes feeling as though they were penetrating into my skin. _[It's a term we created _especially for her_,] _he sneered, his tone cruel_. [A combination of words, really. You see, _aristh_ is a term for the lowest rank in our military. And a _vecol_,] _he spat, _[is a term for our _disabled_.] _I felt my stomach clench uncomfortably and a bad taste filled my mouth. _[Combine the two words, and-]_

"I _get it_," I cut in, my tone harsh, biting. His meaning was more than clear- he obviously thought Brittany had no value, no place in Andalite society. I glared at him, but couldn't meet his eyes, and instead fixed my gaze on his chest.

I felt sick.

He chuckled. _[That stupid estr-]_

"Don't _call_ her that!" I snarled. I was vibrating with rage, and in the next second felt his tail blade pressed to my throat again.

_[Foolish human,] _Dafydd taunted. _[I could _kill_ you where you stand and no one would save you. You obviously hold some misplaced affection for the _vecisth_, disturbing as it is, but let me remind you that she was sent here with a job to do-and if she values her Andalite heritage at all, she _will_ do it.]_

"What job?" I choked out, barely containing my overwhelming emotions. Tears were blurring my eyes. I was feeling so many different things at once, I didn't even have a chance to process that I was in danger, with Dafydd's tail blade still pressed to my throat. I felt like I had been lied to- a lie by omission was _still_ a _lie_, right? So I was hurt. But mostly I was just frustrated and angry. How could anyone feel so much hate towards someone like Brittany? Someone I _cared_ about? Even if she had deliberately not told me some things (okay, like _everything_) it didn't change how I felt about her. I only knew that I had to find out what Dafydd was talking about.

Dafydd, in response, smiled the Andalite no-mouth smile, but it didn't hold a fraction of the warmth and softness that Brittany's did. It felt cold, pitiless, and it made me shiver and draw away unconsciously. I stood, panting, as he snorted in disgust, pulling his tail blade from my throat. He backed away slowly, still clenching Willi's holocube in his fist, and turned away, keeping his stalk eyes on me until he got a safe distance.

_[Why don't you ask the _vecisth_?]_

And then he was gone.

I swallowed thickly and fell to my knees, shaking. I had almost _died_. And not even from an alien bomb. My thoughts were racing, my head was spinning from shock, and I felt like I was flailing in a sea of emotional turmoil.

But worst of all, I was given a stinging reminder that while I felt like I knew Brittany, I knew hardly anything about Britta-Nysp-Ierce.

And that was a hard reality to accept.

* * *

**Oooh, the mystery! The intrigue! The... mystery! LOL. I may or may not reveal some more of Brittany's mission in the next chapter, I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out... ;)**

**For those interested, the Motta Mansion plot was very loosely based on the plot from #16, and also another book but I don't want to give too much away. Trade secrets and all. **

**Also, special shout out to my one reviewer who was going to read the series before I updated... How'd that work out for you? (Were you already on like, #52 or something? Because that would be _hilarious)_**

**Okay, well, review if you feel like it! See you next time, pals! :) **


	7. Prohibition

**It's that time again... Yep, it's Monday, so here we are. :)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited and all that good stuff last chapter. I feel like I say this every time, but I'm really glad you guys like the story. I mean, I'm writing the story for my own amusement, but I'm sharing it with you for yours, lol. So thanks for the reviews. **

**Lots of Brittana in this chapter before we delve back into the action next chapter. But of course this _is_ a Brittana story so there will be more in the future, too. ;)**

**Oh! Before I forget- for those that asked, I passed my state certificate exam. Even though I didn't study because I was writing this instead. So. Brittana ftw! **

**Okay, bye now.**

* * *

"Britt, open your mouth a little," I mumbled against her lips.

All right, so we had spent the last ten minutes making out on my bed. It was Sunday afternoon, and she'd come over, as I expected. We didn't really have much conversation, even though I had plenty of stuff I wanted to talk about. Only, somehow all of that stuff _disappeared_ when her lips were pressed against mine.

She'd turned out to be a natural at kissing- which, okay, _weird_, since she didn't happen to be a natural at _having a mouth_, but I guess that just meant she was eager to practice. She had me squirming and we hadn't even used our tongues yet, something that I was pretty ready to change. I didn't want to rush her, since it was only like her third time kissing- I wanted to give her a chance to progress at her own pace. Through her, it was like I was experiencing kissing from a new perspective. I had never really enjoyed it before, as I had recently realized, but with Brittany it was completely different, which made it almost like I was learning, too. I couldn't get enough, and I wanted to experience everything _with_ _her_.

She didn't say anything in response to my request, only did as I asked, and I slowly slid my tongue out to trace over her bottom lip. She laid on the bed, nearly on her back but still semi on her side, with me half on top of her and half on my side. She had one hand chastely on my waist, and the other was cupping my face gently. I was bracing myself on an elbow, with my other hand resting on the side of her neck.

Her breath hitched audibly as my tongue teased her lips, and I heard a moan work its way up from deep in her throat. The sound made a jolt of arousal go straight to my groin; shit, how could I be turned on so quickly? She hadn't even _touched_ me yet. _Ugh, I'm pathetic. _

Brittany laid completely still- she was trembling lightly, and her breath was coming in heavy pants. To be honest, I was really enjoying the very obvious effects my teasing had on her. Normally when boys reacted it just grossed me out, but with her it was flattering. She slid her tongue out tentatively to touch mine, and I felt another jolt at the feeling. God, how did she make my body respond so strongly? I didn't know what it was about her- maybe _everything_- but it was seriously pushing me dangerously close to losing my control far too quickly, and I _never_ lost control- with _anyone_.

I kissed her, pleased when she opened her mouth, and allowed my tongue to rub sensually against hers. She moaned again, but this time it was into my mouth and I felt the vibrations travel through me. I shivered and kissed her deeper, feeling her hand travel from the side of my face to the back of my neck. Her fingers laced into my hair and her grip on my waist tightened, pulling me closer to her so that we were pressed together completely.

She kissed me back fiercely (like I said, girl's a natural) and shifted, and one of her legs suddenly slid between mine, hitting _that spot_. I broke away suddenly, pulling back to look at her. She was completely out of breath, her eyes dark and clouded over with a look I recognized- she was definitely as turned on as I was, probably more so since she was new to it.

Then again, with the way my body was responding to her, _so was I_.

She licked her lips quickly and gazed at me before leaning forward to kiss me again, softer this time. I let her, kissing back, and gently traced my fingers down her neck and across her bare shoulder. She broke the kiss with a sharp intake of breath, squeezing my waist briefly.

"S-San," she groaned, burying her face into my neck. I continued to slide my fingertips down her bare arm, smirking as I saw goose bumps raise along her skin.

"Hmm?"

"I can't- _breathe_- when you- when-" she fumbled with her words, her stammering was absolutely adorable. I decided to be mean. I turned and gently tugged her earlobe with my teeth.

"When I _what_?" I breathed into her ear.

I felt her breathing pick up even more against my neck, and okay, so her hot breath on my skin was sending shivers down my spine, too. She lifted her head and looked at me, and the look in her eyes sent another jolt down to my girl place. I had about a half a second to process her expression before she was kissing me again, aggressively, and she pushed me onto my back. It was then that I realized we were getting pretty wound up, and should probably stop.

But man, I definitely didn't want to do that.

"Britt," I said, in my usual warning tone.

She pulled back again, a disappointed look on her face. Her lower lip stuck out slightly in a pout, and I almost caved. I brushed her lower lip with my thumb and laughed.

"Where did you learn how to _pout_?" I asked, grinning at her and tapping her nose.

She smiled, scrunching her face. "Puck taught me."

I frowned slightly. When had she spent all this time with _Puck_? I decided not to push the issue, and instead suggested we watch something. I definitely needed a distraction from the sound of my own pulse pounding in my ears.

She happily agreed, and I put on some more _Sweet Valley High_ at her request. We settled into bed in comfortable silence and she snuggled up to me, laying her head on my shoulder.

She'd certainly been affectionate lately… had _Puck_ _also_ taught her how to _snuggle_?

Okay, got to get rid of those thoughts.

Instead I thought about Dafydd, the Andalite. He had obviously gotten away, and what pissed me off the most was he had taken my holocube, and consequently, my _answers_, with him. Now the only way I would know about Brittany's mission was to ask her myself, and both of my previous attempts had failed.

Obviously I couldn't confront her about it yet- I had to figure out a way to put her at ease, to get her to trust me more, to _want_ to open up to me. So far I had been doing a shitty job of making her feel comfortable around me, especially in public. Maybe if we went out and did something, just us, she would feel more connected to me. Like a dat-

Okay, _no_. _She's an alien_. Derail that train of thought _now_.

We could go out, as friends.

Yeah, that's better.

I rested my head against hers, which was still on my shoulder, subconsciously stroked my thumb over the back of her hand, and focused on the episode we were watching.

After the episode, Brittany had to do a quick change to re-start her time limit, and I briefly wondered if she would return to our snuggle position on the bed; I didn't wonder for long, though, as she curled right back into my side when she was done changing. I hadn't realized I had missed her warmth and the pressure of her against me until she was transforming. I sighed.

"Hey, Britt?" I asked gently, tracing my fingers up and down her bare arm slowly.

"Hm?" she asked, turning her face into my neck. I heard her inhale deeply and sigh, and felt my stomach flutter in response.

"I was just wondering… what if we went out? You know, just us?"

She lifted her head to lock eyes with me, a slightly puzzled but hopeful expression gracing her features. "What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"Like," I paused, dropping my gaze to where my fingers were still stroking her arm. "I don't know, what if we went out to see a movie or something? I feel like you don't get to experience human culture enough, and it would be good for us to do something outside of my bedroom."

She considered it for a moment, then smiled. "I would like that."

I smiled in return. "Perfect."

* * *

It was Tuesday night, and we were seeing _Lawless_. Shia LeBeouf was basically a terrible actor, but it was the only thing I thought might be entertaining and also educational. If anything was going to open Brittany's eyes to the true nature of humans, it was _Lawless- _or at least, I felt it was the only thing at the box office that could. Hopefully it wouldn't confuse her even more, what with the supposed bad guys being the good guys and vice versa. And plus I heard there was sex in the movie, which was a bonus.

I chose Tuesday because the movie theater had a special for five-dollar movies on Tuesday nights, and let's face it, I'm not made of money. I mean, when would I have time to work a job in between Cheerios, school, and Transformers bullshit? And since my mother took my credit card away (remember, pretty sure she's a Yeerk- normal mothers don't revoke credit cards, they just pay them) I was kind of running on a tight budget. Especially since, unless Brittany was secretly running some kind of Andalite money laundering operation, I was paying for both of us. I frowned as I realized that Brittany theoretically _could_ be dealing in illegal money and I wouldn't even know, because I still knew next to nothing about her.

Well, that's why we were here, right? To get her to trust me.

Brittany watched the movie completely enraptured. I got her popcorn, and she ate the entire bag- then she tried to eat the _actual_ bag, until I, with as much patience as possible, snatched it out of her hands and told her not to. We missed a small part of the movie so we could go to the bathroom and she could change (the two-hour thing was starting to get seriously inconvenient) but after that we were good to go.

Afterwards, since we had a little time before she had to transform back, we walked next door to the Coldstone to get ice cream. The movie theater was located in one of those big outdoor shopping plazas, and I realized how nice it was, being outside, enjoying the evening. It was warm without being too hot, the stars were out, and there weren't too many screaming middle-schoolers loitering around (seriously, don't they have _anywhere_ else to hang out?) And, as I fought the growing smile on my face at the sight of Brittany struggling to control herself and eat her ice cream like a normal human, I thought about how nice it was to be there, _with her. _

Sure, I had gone on plenty of dates- many of them to that very same movie theater. But something about being there with _her_ made it fill my insides with a weird, warm feeling. Like, okay, I know that sounds lame as fuck. But she just made me really happy, all right?

That thought kind of disturbed me a little. I'm not sure why I was having all these gay, loving feelings about an alien all of a sudden, but it was a little hard to accept. Then again, she was just like any other human when she was transformed, wasn't she? She had all the same body parts, experienced the same emotions, had similar reactions…

And yet she was unlike anyone I had ever known, I realized as I watched her shut her eyes in bliss while eating a huge spoonful of ice cream. She smelled different, evoked different responses from me, made me feel like no one ever had. I didn't know what the _specific_ cause of it was, but it was definitely something about _her_.

"We should go," I murmured softly.

She looked at me, smiling happily. Her beauty nearly took my breath away. "Okay," she agreed. "I have approximately 15 minutes left."

"That's enough to get home," I said softly. I had driven us there, to the movies. Since becoming a Transformer, I had taken a lot of normal things for granted, and it was nice to take a break from that other life and experience them again.

With Brittany.

I slid my pinky finger in hers and began to lead her in the direction of my car- but not before I caught the uninhibited look of joy that crossed her face as I did.

* * *

Once we got back to my house, Brittany did another quick change, but she didn't bother to put her secondary layer of clothes on that she wore to the movies. She stayed in her yoga pants and Under Armour shirt, and, barefooted, sat on my bed as I changed into my normal cheer shorts and tank top.

I noticed her watching me intently as I changed, and I felt suddenly self-conscious. I could practically feel her eyes tracing over my body, and I blushed slightly at her intense gaze. Once I finished changing, I turned to her.

"Did you enjoy the movie?"

Brittany nodded. "Yes, although I'm still unsure as to why the American government outlawed alcoholic beverages in the first place."

I shrugged. "I guess they thought they were doing the right thing by protecting Americans from the sins of alcohol."

"Is alcohol dangerous?"

"It can be," I admitted. "It alters the state of your mind, so that your judgment is impaired. If you drink too much you can feel kind of dizzy; your stomach might get upset, and your vision might get blurry. It's hard to concentrate and you can feel a little sluggish," I explained as I moved to sit on the edge of the bed next to her. "But the effects are different for everyone."

She swallowed, and looked at me, her blue eyes clear and focused on mine. "I feel like that when I'm with you," she said softly. "Especially when we're kissing."

My mouth went dry. Uh. Shit. I didn't expect her to say _that_.

Flattered, I smiled at her. "Well then maybe _I _should ban kissing to protect you?"

She looked absolutely terrified. "No!"

I laughed. "I'm kidding," I mumbled, leaning forward to press my lips against hers. I just couldn't _not_ do it. Resisting her perfect lips was damn near impossible.

She responded to my kiss whole-heartedly, reaching up quickly and pulling me deeper into it. She wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me into her, and I gasped into her mouth. Maybe she had spent too much time studying those sexy scenes in the _Lawless_ movie, but she definitely had a different boldness to her.

Somehow I ended up on my back, with her on top of me. It was almost like we were picking up where we left off on Sunday, and I heard a small panicked voice go off in my brain for a second before Brittany's tongue was forcefully invading my mouth and that voice decided to shut the hell up. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her down against me, and we both moaned into the kiss.

Things were getting heated quickly, but the feelings she somehow managed to awaken inside me were, as she described, _intoxicating_. I was addicted to the taste of her lips, and the way the weight of her body pressed me down. I ran my fingers through her perfect blonde hair and allowed myself to get lost in the way her mouth moved against mine.

"Britt-" I gasped in between kisses. I was struggling for air, but I didn't want to stop kissing her. She hesitated less than a second before she kissed the corner of my open mouth, then my cheek, then pressed sloppy kisses to my jaw line. She licked my neck and I shivered. _God_, she was a fast learner.

I tightened my grip on her hair and shoulder and focused on just breathing. She had me so worked up I could barely concentrate on anything else but the feel of her mouth on my skin as she explored my neck.

_Fuck_.

She began sucking softly on my pulse point and I had to bite my lip to stifle a loud moan. "We should- I mean-" I panted, trying to gain some sort of control over the situation. But no, I was pretty much a pathetic, trembling mess. My whole body was _throbbing_.

She bit my neck lightly and this time I _did_ moan. "_Shit_, we should stop."

"Why?" she breathed into my ear. I shivered. Ugh, payback's a bitch.

"Because," I started. Shit, she had me there. "Because I'm close to not being _able_ to."

I felt her lips turn up into a smile against my neck, and she pressed a gentle kiss there. "It's okay, Santana," she reassured. "I still have one hour and forty minutes left."

_Oh, God. _

I'm glad she didn't see my completely panicked expression. Another _hour_ _and forty minutes_?! I definitely wasn't going to be able to control myself for that long!

"No- _Brittany_-" I started, but it turned into a sharp intake of breath as she adjusted her position above me, and again her thigh slid naturally in between my legs. "Fuck," I practically whimpered, my hips canting upwards reflexively.

The move made her gasp in return, and her grip on me tightened, and I struggled to resist my overpowering desire to just let shit unfold. My body was begging for it, but my mind was still arguing- this shit was like that damn R. Kelly song. I pushed weakly at her shoulders, vaguely aware that I was giving her extremely mixed signals.

She pulled back to look at me, sitting up and straddling my thigh. I swallowed at the feel of her warmth pressed against my leg- those yoga pants were so _thin_-

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her concerned tone making my heart flutter even more in my chest. It was already beating erratically due to our steamy make-out session, and I tried to take a few deep calming breaths to slow my rapid pulse down.

I swallowed thickly, and sat up, too. Now that she wasn't completely in my personal space overloading my senses, my thoughts were becoming a little less hazy. I pulled a hand through my disheveled hair in an attempt to straighten it, but it was more out of reflex. And it also kept my hands busy so I didn't immediately pull her back in for another heated kiss.

"Britt, what we're doing, it's…" Ugh, how was I supposed to explain this to an _alien_? I felt stupid for letting us get so carried away, but damn, I really didn't want to explain this shit.

She looked at me expectantly, listening attentively. I would've smiled if I wasn't currently flailing inside at how the fuck to tell her why we couldn't have sex.

The truth was, other than her being an alien and the fact that we hadn't actually talked about feelings or anything, I wasn't exactly sure why we couldn't have sex. I mean, I guess it was because I actually cared about her or some shit, and I didn't want to just snatch something like that from her without talking about it, but then, she wasn't even really a human, so how would I know if she even valued it or cared? For all I knew she could be some huge Andalite slut or something. Maybe she had sex with every alien she came across. Maybe that was totally normal for her.

I felt a sting at the reminder that, again, I knew nothing about Brittany, and another at the fact that I could be just another alien to her. She'd obviously seen a lot… how could I ever be _anything_ to her?

_Because she told you_, I reminded myself.

But did she? I thought back to all the things she'd said. (Oh, _great_, now it's turned into that gay t.A.T.u. song. What the fuck is wrong with my brain?) She'd only told me she liked spending time with me, and that she felt intoxicated when she was around me. There wasn't a single mention of deeper feelings.

And that meant I couldn't get myself emotionally invested, either. Blackberry bush. _Right_.

This shit was so confusing. See, this is why I didn't deal with feelings.

"San?" Brittany asked gently. I hadn't noticed she had reached up and rested her hand on my shoulder, and was stroking my skin with her thumb. The feeling sent a tremor through my body.

"It's what people in love do," I finished lamely. I inwardly cringed at the lie I had just told- I couldn't think of a single person I had been in love with when I had done it in the past.

But Brittany was different. Whether she was an Anda-slut or not, I didn't know, and I didn't care- I didn't want that for her.

"Oh," she said. She looked as if she might argue- like she knew I was full of shit. But she didn't. Instead, she bit her lip, her eyes downcast. "Am I not doing it right?"

Her tone nearly broke my heart. She sounded devastated, like she believed the only reason I stopped was because she was an utter failure. The thought made me blink and rush to correct her.

"No, Britt," I reassured her, reaching to brush some strands of her hair from her eyes gently. I tucked them behind her ear and cupped her jaw, lifting so her eyes met mine. "You're wonderful." I offered her a sincere smile, and she returned it at my repetition of what I'd called her when she felt bad at math. "_Too_ wonderful, in fact. You're very good at… uh," I paused, feeling a blush creep up my cheeks. But I decided to just get it over with. "You're very good at making me lose control." There. That didn't sound so bad.

I coughed slightly as her blue eyes took on that clouded look again, and I knew she was lost in the memory of what had just happened between us. I averted my eyes to avoid falling victim to her again. "I just don't feel right taking advantage of you in that way," I said honestly.

Her expression shifted to one of befuddlement. "But if I'm willing to-"

I cut her off with a silencing kiss. I made it quick, and to my relief she didn't attempt to deepen it. I pulled back, resting my forehead against hers, and stroked my thumb over her bottom lip again. It was becoming a thing for me, for us. "I promise we will talk about it," I murmured. "_Later_. No more tonight. You should go."

She nodded slightly against my head. "Okay," she whispered.

After she flew away, I cradled my head in my hands.

_What the fuck am I doing?_

* * *

"So let me get this straight," I snapped. "I'm teamed up with _Prancy Smurf_?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yes, Satan, and I don't know why you waited until now to bring it up, we've known our team assignments since Saturday."

"I'm sorry, I don't _actually_ listen to the words that come out of Sam's mouth, as I'm too busy staring at the size of his ginormous guppy lips," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well maybe you should," Mercedes muttered.

I shot her a glare, but before I could cut her down with a clever insult, Sam interrupted me,

"Listen, it's Wednesday, obviously, so that means it's Puck and Brittany's day to do surveillance. There's no need for all of us to go out there, that'll look suspicious with our various bird forms. That's why I set us up in teams," he gave me a pointed look and I rolled my eyes. "Two of us fly out, observe for a couple of hours, and come back. Mercedes and I have tomorrow night, and that means-"

"Oh, _hell_ no," I said, agitated. "That means Lady Pants and I have to waste our Friday night? _Again_?"

"Oh give it a rest, Satan- you know you have nothing better to do," Kurt snapped with a punctuated roll of his eyes.

Okay, so I admit: he was right. But I was mostly irritated that Brittany was going to be spending so much time with Puck. My jealousy was kicking in and it was unleashing my evil side.

"Do you want to switch?" Sam offered with an awkward smile.

"Actually-" I started.

"_No_, because I already made plans to see _Thoroughly Modern Millie_ down at the community theatre," Kurt said pointedly.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me."

"Okay, then, so that's a no-" Sam began and I huffed dramatically. He raised an eyebrow at me and smirked teasingly, but I wasn't in the mood for his playing. He began to address Brittany and Puck about the mission- what to look for, who to follow, what to do if they got spotted, etc.

I was kind of relieved that I had the next two nights off, but with the cost being Brittany and Puck spending quality time, I definitely deemed it wasn't worth it. I almost volunteered to go with them out of the goodness of my heart, but I knew I had homework and stuff I had been neglecting to get done to spend time with Brittany; I also didn't want to sound desperate.

I don't do desperate.

As the two took off, I watched them go with a twinge of nervousness eating at my stomach. Puck could be charming, and sweet when he wanted to be. And Brittany was innocent, gullible- she was so open-minded and we hadn't officially said we were, well, _anything_, mostly because, okay, _I _refused to talk about it. I couldn't stand the thought of Brittany being close to anyone the way she was with me, though- _especially_ Puck.

Sam continued to talk about Sunday's plans and I tried to make an effort to actually listen this time. He mentioned that we all had a different surveillance shift on Saturday, before Sunday's all-day convention. I only caught that mine and Kurt's shift was, again, at night, taking my Saturday night, too. I sighed.

Maybe the time away would be good for me and Brittany- she'd realize what a douche Puck is, and I'd be able to get my stuff done, and then maybe we'd hang out after it was all over, maybe, maybe, maybe.

I let that hopeful thought carry me home.

* * *

I anxiously looked at the clock on my desk. It was nearing seven-thirty, and I was finding it harder and harder to focus on the homework I was bent over. It was Thursday night- Sam and Mercedes had surveillance duty, which meant both Brittany and I were off. I was waiting to see if she would come to my room like she did on most evenings. Usually she would come by a little before seven, but tonight I was beginning to wonder if she would show up at all…

Or if she would spend her free night with _Puck_.

The thought made me boil and I angrily glared down at my homework again, almost as if I was blaming it for my jealousy. I tried to concentrate on the reading- I had history homework this time- and not think about Brittany and Puck hanging out.

I was so focused on my homework that I was genuinely surprised when I felt Brittany slide her arms around me from behind. She bent down, her chin resting on my shoulder.

"Hi," she breathed into my ear, and I shivered as she pressed a wet, lingering kiss at the hinge of my jaw.

I didn't answer, only leaned back into her arms, and she tightened her hold on me. I didn't lift my gaze from my homework, feigning interest. She pressed another kiss to my neck, this time firmer, and hugged me tightly.

"I missed you," she murmured against my neck.

I felt all of my pent up jealousy and tension dissipating at her words, and the warm feeling of her arms wrapped around me. Her presence just calmed me, and I leaned into her further.

"I missed you, too," I whispered, relieved, turning my head to face her.

She smiled before leaning in to kiss me gently, and I melted at the feeling of her soft lips against mine. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever be tired of it.

Brittany hummed against my lips and I giggled slightly and pulled back to look at her. "So why'd you come in here all sneaky-snake like?" I teased.

She grinned. "I wanted to surprise you. Besides, you were really focused on your homework."

I smiled at her, remembering the last time she helped me with my homework. Which spawned another thought.

"I forgot to tell you Tuesday, but- I got my Calculus test back," I told her, gazing into her eyes.

She smiled wider, her eyes shining. I felt my heart swell. "Yeah?"

"Mmhm. I got a 96." I reached up to tuck some hair behind her ear and leaned my forehead against hers. "Thank you for being a wonderful teacher."

"San- I'm so proud of you," she said, her voice full of emotion. For a moment I thought she was going to cry, but before I could pull back to analyze her expression, she closed the gap between us and kissed me again, firmer this time.

I let her for a few moments (actually they were more like minutes, because we definitely got into it again) before I pulled back, a little breathless, and said, "Britt, I've gotta finish my homework. I'm almost done. Just a few more pages of reading."

She pouted and I laughed. "You're too much."

"Too much what?"

I laughed again and kissed her nose. "I promise I'll be done soon."

She didn't move; instead, she kept her arms wrapped around me and her chin on my shoulder. I turned back to the few pages I had left, but let's be real- it was impossible to focus on Attila the Hun with Brittany's arms around me. And her hot breath in my ear.

And especially with her lips on my neck.

"Brittany," I groaned. "God, you're so _distracting_."

I felt her smile against my neck as she pressed another kiss to it in response. Seconds later I felt her teeth on my earlobe, and I was done. There was no way I could read. I closed my eyes as she began to tease my ear with her tongue, and then I abruptly moved to stand up.

She let go of me enough so that I could maneuver out from my desk, and I backed her up to the edge of the bed, my gaze holding hers intensely. Her eyes flicked down to my lips briefly and then down to my boobs before coming back to my own, and I should've taken that as a warning that we were probably about to get carried away again, so I should definitely stop it before it started.

But she already had me partially worked up, and a little kissing couldn't hurt, right? (Pssh- as if we would stop at "a little.")

"How did your mission with _Puck_ go?" I asked dangerously, cornering her. She swallowed hard and shrugged weakly.

"It was boring," she admitted. "And as I said- I missed _you_."

I hummed in contemplation before I leaned forward and let my lips brush against hers, not fully kissing her, just teasing. "Did you find out anything?"

She let out a shaky breath- her eyes were averted to my lips and I withheld a smirk. She licked her lips quickly and I felt the slightest brush of her tongue against my bottom lip. "Anything about what?" she barely whispered.

I laughed my sexy laugh. Getting her worked up was so _fun_. "The convention, Britt."

"What convention?" She didn't tear her eyes away from my mouth. I decided I probably wasn't going to get any information out of her because she was too distracted. Damn. I guess too much sexy can be a bad thing after all. I had to remember to tone it down next time.

How can I help it if I'm too hot?

"Nevermind, then," I said, reaching up to play with a lock of her hair.

"_Santana," _she breathed. I was going to answer but she didn't give me a chance- instead she lunged forward, capturing my lips, and her arms locked around my waist, pulling me in tightly.

I gasped into her mouth in surprise as she kissed me, hard. She smoothly spun us around so that _she_ was pushing _me_ back onto the bed, but I didn't realize until my back hit the mattress that we were back, _again_, where we left off. It was like déjà vu.

Things moved faster this time, faster than my brain could process, because she was kissing me heatedly and had already straddled my thigh. She was on her elbow, her hand under my neck, fingers twined in my hair as she held my head tightly to her and kissed me deeply. Her other hand trailed slowly down the side of my face, down my neck, over my collarbone to my-

"Br-Brittany," I stammered out, breaking the kiss, as I felt her full on grab my boob. She buried her face in my neck immediately, almost as if she was hiding.

"Ugh, _San_," she whimpered into my neck, her hips rolling suddenly against my thigh. I bit my lip at the feel of it and struggled to convince myself that we should slow down, at least. She bucked her hips again and I resisted the urge to push my thigh up against her in return.

_Gotta stop_, I reminded myself. Stop. Right. Gotta stop.

She moaned into my ear as she thrust against me again, her hand, which was still on my boob, squeezing it lightly. I fought to withhold my own moan in response, and concentrated.

_Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop._

Her thrusts got slightly more steady- she started a rhythm, and for the first time I entertained the thought that she might actually come on my leg (never mind how awkward and weird that might be afterwards.)

"Fuck," I breathed, as she moved against me harder, and I could definitely feel the effects of her arousal through her yoga pants; I told you those pants were thin. She bit my neck lightly and for a brief second I let my hands slide up to her hips, about to pull her into my leg faster, when I suddenly remembered that I wasn't supposed to be helping her get off- I was supposed to be _stopping_.

"Britt," I started.

"Don't," she begged into my neck, recognizing my tone.

Oh, God, I felt like such a prick. I bet she was about to come, and here I was, about to deny her. What to do? Shit, what do I do? Should I just let her?

No, I had to stop her. It just felt… wrong. I didn't want it to happen this way. I didn't want regret to be a part of it.

"Britt," I breathed again, sympathetic. I reached up to gently stroke her hair back. She lifted her head up and kissed me, but broke it to gasp as her hips pushed against my leg again.

"Please," she panted, resting her forehead against mine. "I need- I've been-" She could barely get her words out.

I reached up and cupped her face. "Tell me," I encouraged. Maybe it would distract us both.

"I've been touch- touching myself," she confessed breathlessly. Her cheeks were flushed from her arousal and her pupils were so dilated I could barely see any blue in them. "In this body."

Fuck, that's definitely not a distraction.

"Why?" I blurted.

_Really_? That's _all_ I could think of to say? An alien just told me she's been masturbating as a human, and oh by the way, that same alien also happened to be _humping my leg_.

"I feel so constricted when I leave here," she admitted in a voice that's a cross between confused innocence and breathy sex-goddess. Not sure how that combination could ever be alluring, but it definitely made my kitty purr. "My muscles are so tense, and I'm wound up… I tried to calm down, like you said, but I can't stop my heart from pounding, and when I think of you, it's worse, and I can't not think of you," she rambled, her hips slowing down but not stopping. I'd think her rambling was adorable in any other circumstance except this one, because I was too busy focusing on the context of what she just said. "I can't calm down, not when this body is like _this_," she punctuated the word with a hard thrust of her hips, which made her gasp, and I bit my lip. "Not even transforming helps- my mind is still wound up, still thinking of you." She tightened her grip on me. "Puck told me I should- should try touching myself to relieve some of it," she confessed in a whisper.

Okay, _ugh_.

"Stop," I said suddenly. I pushed on her shoulders, making her sit up. Her eyes widened and she looked scared. I'd be more than pissed if someone stopped me from reaching my orgasm, but I couldn't let her go on any longer. I suddenly felt completely dirty and guilty.

The thought of her and Puck talking about anything sex-related killed my arousal, and the fact that I was at fault for driving her to talk to him about it in the first place made me feel completely guilty. I was getting her all hot and bothered and then what? Sending her away? She had no clue how to deal with those frustrations, that kind of sexual stress, and I suddenly felt like a wolf preying on an innocent sheep.

I'd been corrupting Brittany this whole time.

"Santan-" she started, reaching for me, but I cut her off harshly.

"_Stop_," I repeated. "We should stop, for _good_. I didn't realize I was such a bad influence."

Her face fell. "It's not like that-"

"Well, as I explained, _this_," I gestured between us, "is what people in love do. And we're not in love."

"We could-"

"_No_, we _couldn't_," I snarled, ignoring the complete look of pain that flashed across her face. "Brittany, you're a _female_ _alien_. And even if you weren't, I don't know _shit_ about you."

"That's not fair," she whispered, staring down at my comforter.

"Oh, it isn't? I've told you _everything_ about me- about my family, my culture; you know my friends and where I go to school. I've shared _all_ of it with you. And what have you given me? I don't even know how you came to Earth! Is that fair?"

She raised her eyes to mine, and I could see there were tears forming in them. Shit. I felt my throat constricting, but I tried to shove the pain in my chest aside. I had to do this, it was for her own good, right?

"Santana, I- I'm _forbidden_ to tell you-" she started, her voice cracking.

"Of _course_ you are. Oh, you know what _I _forgot to tell _you_?" I asked mockingly. "I ran into one of your friends Saturday night. Dafydd-Karof-Scee, I think his name was. See, he found me watching Willi's holocube, the one that he hid?"

Her eyes widened in genuine surprise, despite the tears threatening to spill. "His _hirac delest_?"

"Mm-hm," I confirmed.

"Did- did you watch it? What did he say?" she asked hesitantly, her tone sad and bitter, her eyes darting away, ashamed.

"No, I didn't. I was interrupted by your _good friend_, Dafydd, and he had some very _pleasant_ things to say about you."

Brittany glared at me. "Your human sarcasm is hurtful, Santana," she whimpered, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"Yeah, well, so is the fact that I had to hear about _my_ _friend_ Brittany from some _sleazebag Andalite _instead of from her."

"I can't-" she choked. She took a shuddering breath, squeezing her eyes shut, but it didn't stop her tears from spilling out . "I can't-" She seemed like she wanted to say more, but she couldn't get the words out. She was breathing heavily and she reached up to clutch her chest. I tried not to let her obvious pain affect me- I could be broken up about it _later_, but not now.

Instead, I shook my head, disgusted, and turned from her. "Then I guess we don't have anything more to talk about. You should probably go now."

She nodded, trying her best to withhold her sobs as she stumbled off of the bed, already transforming back to Andalite at a rapid pace. She was barely a full Andalite before she began the change to duck, and she looked at me with her duck eyes for a long moment before she flapped out of the window and out into the night. Even her duck eyes had seemed sad, and it broke something inside me.

I sat on the bed, feeling completely sick to my stomach. I had hurt Brittany. But she had hurt me first, right? I had every right to demand answers from her, didn't I? I mean, despite everything, Brittany had still chosen her own people, people like _Dafydd_, that despised her and that she didn't seem too fond of, either, over me. Maybe I was selfish for forcing her to choose, but I couldn't continue to harbor feelings for someone I knew nothing about. And those feelings I had for her were the same ones that made me feel guilty about taking advantage of her in the first place.

No, I definitely _couldn't_ have feelings for Brittany.

That was the best way to get hurt, right?

I had to protect my fruit.

* * *

**UGH, Sad!Brittany just kills me. I don't know what I'm going to do during _Everytime._ I might just die. If that happens, I'll be sure to let you know via Ghosty-Gram so you don't expect another update. LOL.**

**(just remember Brittana is endgame- that is my mantra when I think about season 4 spoilers, IT WORKS)**

**In any case, reviews are appreciated but not required, so do it if you feel up to it. **

**See you next Monday with a (hopefully) less angsty chapter! :)**


	8. Kill the Beiste

**O HAY, is it Monday already?! 8D~**

**Hello, everyone! As usual, a special thanks to everyone who's reading this story, even you silent lurkers out there. (I totally do that, so I completely understand.)**

**Sorry you guys had to wait a whole week with such an awful angsty ending, and sorry again that this chapter does not resolve said ending, but hang in there! It will get resolved soon, I promise- It'll all be worth it when they _do_ resolve it. (remember the chant)**

**I don't own _Thoroughly Modern Millie_. If I did, I probably wouldn't be writing this, because I'd be way too busy taking money baths.**

* * *

I was going insane.

There was no other way to describe it.

Normal, sane people didn't spend their Friday nights as a bird, stalking politicians, with only the Mayor of Gaytown for company. Especially when said gay was singing show tunes the entire time.

_[Jimmy, oh Jiiii-mmyyyyyy, silly boyyyy- gee, what a real sweeellll guyyyyyyy!] _

As if that wasn't enough to make someone want to commit brutal suicide, I was driving myself even _more_ insane over my conversation with Brittany the day before. Her hurt expression stuck in my mind. I had spent all day at school thinking about it. Even her duck's hurt expression haunted me. A _duck_, for fuck's sake. How pathetic was I?

_[His glance had fireworks in it!]_

Okay, not THAT pathetic.

_[We kissed, my heart did a whiz-bang flip-flop- heaven, for a minute!]_

Did it have to be a _love_ song?

_[Jimmy, oh, Jim-]_

_[SHUT UP. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, just STOP. I can't fucking take anymore!]_ I snapped.

Kurt fluffed his feathers up, looking impossibly offended, even in bird form. He angled his body away from me on the observation post he was perched on, and turned his little bird head up almost haughtily. _[Gee, you're even more remarkably pleasant today than usual,]_ he muttered.

_[Look, I gave up my Friday night to creep on some old politicians, with _you_. I don't need the added bonus of a complete re-enactment of every song from the musical you saw yesterday, okay? I've got enough shit going on.]_

Kurt huffed angrily in my head. _[You don't have to take your bad mood out on me.]_

_[It's less like a bad mood and more like the fact that you're just annoying as fuck,] _I muttered.

_[Oh, please- you've had a dark storm cloud over your head all day at school, and I'm definitely not the only one who's noticed. Did something happen with Brittany?]_

_[What?] _I asked incredulously. How the fuck could he know about me and Brittany? He couldn't, that's how. _[What does Brittany have to do with my bad mood?]_

Kurt scoffed. _[I'm not blind. I've seen the way you guys look at each other, it's completely obvious.]_

_[No, it's not,] _I argued. _[Brittany and I have nothing going on.]_

_[Riiiiight,] _he said knowingly, his tone angering me. _[You keep telling yourself that. And when you're ready to come out of the closet, I'll be right here.]_

_[Just because _you're_ gay doesn't mean _everyone_ is,] _I said defensively, but he didn't answer, only turned his fierce Predator Bird gaze on me, and my anger deflated. _[Let's just focus on the mission,] _I grumbled.

We watched the politicians, memorizing their every move. I didn't really know who they were, but Kurt recognized a lot of them, both from his personal interest in politics, and the fact that his father was a running candidate. I tried to pay attention and remember their faces, but my mind was still focused hundreds of miles away, on Brittany.

I felt bad for hurting her, but it was for her own good. I knew that. I didn't know anything about her, and if it was illegal by Andalite standards for her to tell me anything about herself, we were at a stalemate. It wasn't a good idea for me to get any kind of involved with her beyond friends, and especially with my feelings already in the mix; it would only complicate things and end in heartbreak for me. I didn't want to get her in trouble, but I also didn't want to get hurt.

And that's not even including the fact that she was a girl alien and we were in the middle of a war- as if there needed to be more factors involved.

This was so fucking _complicated_.

In a small way, though, I was relieved- if I just pushed her away, I didn't have to acknowledge or face my feelings, which was part of my very unique skill set.

_[Guess we should re-transform and head back,]_ Kurt was saying. Shit, had that much time passed already?

I didn't reply, only followed him down to a secluded spot and silently changed back to my own form, still lost in thought. We transformed back into birds and took off, and I guess Kurt took my silence as his cue to begin singing again.

_[Cut the cord, is that the man I once adored?]_

I ignored him and continued analyzing my feelings. I couldn't stand the jealousy that was practically eating me from the inside. I was with Kurt, which means Brittany was free to spend time with Puck.

And I had ended things.

And she was upset with me.

_[He's lower than an all-ey cat, dir-ty rat, and I flat-teerrr!]_

The thought of her being any kind of intimate with Puck made me sick inside, which was definitely an alarm bell telling me that I was in way deeper with my feelings than I previously thought. I shouldn't care so much about them spending time together, but I didn't want Brittany with _anyone_, not just Puck. I wanted her with me. I wanted her to open up to me, and then be with only me.

_[I'll find myself another beau, who I know, is no roooo-verrr!]_

But that was never going to happen. Especially with the way I had fucked things up. With how much I had hurt Brittany, I'd be lucky if she even spoke to me again.

I flew home listening to Kurt sing words that unfortunately applied to my situation more than I wanted to admit.

_[For-get a-bout the boy, for-get a-bout the boy, for-get aboooout theeee boooyyy!]_

* * *

I got home, half hoping that Brittany would be waiting for me, but the house, and my room, was empty and cold. I opened the window in my bedroom, just in case, and got ready for bed. It was late, but if Brittany came by I'd be more than okay with talking to her.

Unfortunately, she didn't come, and I fell asleep with the uncomfortable clenching in my stomach that was caused by the feeling of just knowing she was spending time with Puck- and it was all my fault.

I woke up with a start, and the first thing I thought of was Brittany. Which of course meant that I woke up sad. I looked around wildly, but my room was empty. My heart sank.

Then I spotted it- a small feather.

I got out of bed and picked it up, and sure enough, it was soft and white, the color of the down on Brittany's duck. Was it from last night? Or was it left over from a previous visit?

I had no way of knowing, since I didn't exactly check for feathers after every visit.

I clutched the feather to my chest (I know, I know, I'm lame, but I felt really bad, all right?) and crawled back into bed, wishing Brittany was there. I missed everything about her- her smell, her warmth, her startlingly blue eyes… I missed the feel of her arms around me when we hugged, the taste of her lips, the way she looked at me like I was the most important thing in the world to her-

Ugh, I had destroyed that completely. Now when she looked at me, there'd only be pain. I was such an idiot.

I wallowed in self pity for most of the morning. Brittany and Puck had surveillance duty, again, before Sam and Mercedes went this afternoon, and Lady Lips and I rounded it out later that night. I tried not to let the idea of Brittany and Puck spending even more time together bring me further down into my Pit of Pity, but it was really hard.

Eventually I got up and started my day. I looked at the clock religiously, not sure when Brittany and Puck's "shift" was over; but when the day continued to pass by and there was no sign of Brittany, it was obvious she had taken what I said seriously. I decided I couldn't spend all day moping around the house, and tried to focus on the upcoming mission.

What Mercedes had said about her bear earlier in the week stuck out in my brain- she couldn't be an elephant all the time, and maybe I should think about acquiring a secondary animal myself. I spent the rest of the day before my surveillance shift researching different animals and trying to decide which one suited me. I wanted something tough, but I obviously couldn't be an elephant, since Mercedes already had dibs on it.

I also had to think realistically about what I could actually _acquire_. Some of the animals I looked at weren't at the local zoo, and weren't feasible in the grand scheme of things. After a while I grew frustrated and just decided to fly out to the zoo- maybe seeing them in person would help me figure out which one I wanted.

Nothing jumped out at me (ha ha, I made a funny) which left me frustrated, but at least it took my mind off of thinking about what a fuck-up I was. I was too occupied with being pissed at the lame variety of animals the zoo offered, and by the time I got home, I realized it was already time for me to meet Kurt.

So much for that.

* * *

_[Gimme, gimme that thing called loooove!]_

Oh, great. This again.

_[I see you're still capital G: Gay,] _I mentioned brightly.

_[I see you're still fighting with Brittany,] _Kurt shot back.

I decided not to respond- it might further incriminate me- and instead focused on the politicians that were scurrying around beneath us.

_[Which one's your dad?]_

_[He's the one over by the building on the right, in the gray suit,]_ Kurt said suspiciously.

_[Hmmmm.]_

_[You're not planning what I think you're planning, are you?] _At my silence, Kurt fumed, _[Santana, I hardly think shitting on my father's head is funny.]_

_[Yeah, well, to _me_ it would be _hilarious_.] _He began to protest but it sounded like a beat-up jalopy sputtering down a street. _[I'll save you the trouble of gathering your words and just resign myself to not having any fun on this trip,] _I sighed.

He continued to mutter darkly to himself but I was far too focused on what was happening below to tune into his jumbled, angry thoughts. If I stayed focused on the mission, I couldn't think about Brittany. And if I couldn't think about Brittany, I couldn't get upset. And if I couldn't get upset, I wouldn't have to resist the urge to fly straight to her scoop and kiss her senseless until she forgave me.

I watched the people scurry here and there, entering buildings and what-not. Nobody really did anything out of the ordinary.

Wait a minute, that dressy black track suit looked awfully familiar-

_[Hey- isn't that Visser Seven down there?] _I asked suddenly.

_[Huh?] _Kurt said, snapping out of his ravings. He suddenly wheeled in the air and flew closer to me. _[Shit, you're right- it's definitely Sue.]_

_[We should follow her, right? I mean, we _are_ looking for suspicious activity- what's more suspicious than Visser Seven traipsing around?]_

_[I don't know, Santana. Sam said-]_

_[Sam's not here,] _I snapped. _[We've gotta make decisions for ourselves. I'm not interested in losing this war, so I'm going to follow her.] _I paused. _[I mean _him_. Fuck, can we just pick one gender pronoun and stick with it?]_

_[Santana-]_

But I was already pulling back my wings to dive down behind the building Visser Seven was standing in front of.

* * *

_[Hey, Tweety- do you see me?]_

_[Yes,] _Kurt said flatly, clearly unamused.

_[You're going to have to guide me to her- I mean, him. I don't have the world's best vision in this thing.]_

I felt super fucking boss.

I was the queen of all insects: the _ladybug_.

Come on, who doesn't like ladybugs? It was perfect. I could creep on people and no one would care. Instead of getting swatted at for existing and freaking people out, like cockroaches or flies, I would get positive coos of adoration. People viewed ladybugs as a good luck charm.

Who the fuck doesn't want good luck?

_Exactly_.

Not only that, but since ladybugs are predators, they have surprisingly decent senses.

However, my little ladybug eyes (or whatever the fuck they were) could only "see" so far. And I wasn't as mobile as a fly. But I could make it.

_[A little to the left,] _Kurt instructed. Raptors have extremely good vision, so I wasn't at all surprised that he could see me fluttering my little ladybug wings like a boss, even as high up as he was flying.

I continued to book it, and I have to admit, it was exhilarating. To me, it felt like I was going a hundred miles an hour, but in reality I was probably moving the span of a few inches.

_[I spy, with my ladybug eye, something big and black. Is that her? Can we just agree to call Visser Seven a her?]_

_[No, that's a wall. You went too far left. Turn a little to your right and go about another foot,]_ Kurt instructed. _[And that depends- if we're referring to Visser Seven I think we should call him a 'him.']_

_[But Yeerks don't have sexes,] _I argued casually. _[So it should be totally okay to call Visser Seven a 'her,' since she's in a female human body, right? Am I there yet?]_

_[Yes, that's _her_,] _Kurt placated.

I reached out with my ladybug legs and gripped the fibers of Sue's track suit, and held on. _[All right… now what?]_

_[It's _your_ plan,] _Kurt reminded. _[But just hold on, I think she's almost done talking to the guy she's talking to.]_

I focused, and after a moment of concentrating I could make out what they were saying.

"-get it fixed," Sue snapped. "I don't care if you have to call every single-"

_[Santana?]_

_[What?]_ I snapped. Shit, his interruption made me miss what Sue was saying! It could've been important!

_[Just checking on you,] _Kurt mumbled. After a moment he added, _[This is a bad idea.]_

_[Shut it, Cameron Winklevoss; do you want to save your dad or not?]_

He took my advice, and I re-focused on the conversation but unfortunately they had stopped talking. I felt the vibrations and breeze that indicated Sue was moving, and held on tighter to the fibers I was grasping.

_[I guess we're moving inside,]_ I informed Kurt, though he could probably tell that better than I could. He didn't point that out though- Kurt's a lot nicer than I am. _[Keep a look out, okay?]_

_[Sure thing,] _he responded, but he sounded farther away now that there were more walls separating us.

I was on my own.

* * *

"Visser, everything is ready for tomorrow," a male Indian voice said lowly.

"Then why is the air conditioning _broken_?" Sue snapped. "You do realize, you moronic shitsack, that if the air conditioning is _broken_, the convention will be held in another building, compromising the entire plan? Or did that obvious thought not occur to your curry-filled brain?"

There was a pause and then a loud thump.

"Get this fool out of my sight," Sue ordered, and there were low utterances of agreement by several voices in response. "Now- Goolsby," she snapped.

I made a mental note of the name. Goolsby… pretty sure I more than vaguely remembered Kurt mentioning him as a politician, but I couldn't remember his title. I felt my stomach drop (well, figuratively, since I'm not sure ladybugs had an actual stomach) at the knowledge that our government was more infested than we had thought.

Shit. Our problems just got a _lot_ larger.

"Yes, Visser," a smooth male voice answered.

"I trust that your people will be in position to take the candidates once they exit the stage?"

_Well, isn't this convenient. Talking about their plans while I'm here to listen. _

"Yes, Visser- I had the mini pool constructed per your request. When the candidates leave the stage after their speech, my people will grab them, one by one, and force them into the room like we discussed. Once there, they will become infested," Goolsby said, his tone oozing confidence and charm.

I resisted the urge to panic at the Yeerks' plan to infest all of the politicians present. _We already knew that, _I reminded myself. _Focus on what they're saying._

"Excellent. Now let's hope Ryan can get these ridiculous human problems out of the way so everything can run smoothly."

"Problems, Visser?"

"The air conditioning is broken, and we all know this inferior human structure is a breeding ground for heat- and humans are so pampered and _weak_. Any change in temperature and they are reduced to sniveling maggots complaining about the slightest discomfort."

"I am certain Ryan will get it taken care of," Goolsby reassured.

"If he values his life, he had better hope so."

Shit, shit, shit.

I decided I had heard enough and let go of Sue's track suit, fluttering away through the air as fast as my little wings could flutter. I had to find Kurt, and we had to tell Sam and the others what I had discovered. Suddenly I felt something hit me, and it became dark.

_Oh, no- am I dead?_

I realized after a moment that I was in someone's palm. They had caught me! I began to scurry carefully over the lifelines in my captor's hands, and felt the warmth underneath my legs as I gripped and crawled my way across their skin.

Shit. I had to get out of there before they decided to squish me.

What kind of monster kills a ladybug?!

"-Visser?" Goolsby asked uncertainly. Oh, right- an _alien_ monster.

"Such an odd insect," Sue said in a dangerous tone. "It serves no real purpose."

"Most people view them as good luck," Goolsby pointed out.

_That's right. So let me go, and maybe I'll bring _you_ good luck._

"Fascinating, and yet, they don't actually have the power to bring good luck, do they?" Sue reasoned as I carefully fluttered my wings and got airborne again.

_Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me._

I got a few inches away, and when Sue didn't immediately come after me to crush me, I breathed a sigh of relief, and flew as fast as I could out of there.

I had to get home as soon as possible, because if there was anything I was bringing Visser Seven, it wasn't good luck.

* * *

"Did they happen to say which room it was?" Sam asked for like the millionth time.

"No," I said, frustrated. "I told you everything I know."

"I know, I just thought maybe it might help you remember something-"

"Look, I didn't forget anything," I snapped. "It was pretty straight forward. Goolsby said they were going to basically snatch them as they came off stage, and it makes perfect sense- they can infest them after they're done speaking, and the audience won't even know because they'll be too busy focusing on the next speaker."

"Jesus," Kurt breathed, in shock. He seemed far away, not really involved in the conversation but just listening and commenting to himself. Mercedes rubbed his shoulder in a comforting manner next to him. "That's what they're planning to do to my father," he murmured.

"You knew that, dude," Puck pointed out harshly.

"It's still hard to accept," Mercedes defended. "Imagine if it was _your_ father."

"I'd be _glad_ if it was," Puck retorted. "Serves the bastard right-"

"Guys, _focus_," Sam commanded. "We don't need to be fighting with each other right now, we've got too much at stake."

_[Sam is right,] _Brittany agreed.

Yeah, Brittany was there.

It was late Saturday night, and we were at the usual spot, discussing our individual team findings with each other so we could plan an attack for the next day. Brittany and Puck hadn't really observed anything out of the ordinary, but did figure out what each of the individual buildings were used for. Sam and Mercedes managed to find the seating arrangement for the event and how the main building was going to be set up in terms of positioning. Neither of them had spotted any Yeerk activity.

I felt really proud that I had discovered the most useful information, even if it was only attributed mostly to the fact that I had recklessly tailed the most dangerous Yeerk on Earth. I hoped Brittany would be impressed at the risks I had taken and my accomplishment, but she purposely kept all four of her eyes from looking at me, focusing on everything but where I was standing.

It hurt; but I guess in a way I deserved it.

"We've got to figure out how to subtly take down this convention," Sam said. "We can't go charging in as ourselves- it'll alert the Yeerks to the fact that we know about the convention and that we have a spy on the inside."

"We may not have a choice," Kurt said acidly. "I'm not letting my father become one of _them_."

"Kurt, we all have to make sacrifices-"

"I don't see any of _your_ families torn apart by this," Kurt accused. "But me- _mine_ _is_. Finn isn't the brightest crayon in the box, but he's still my step-brother. And now they're going after my father. _Enough is enough_. I'll do whatever I have to do to keep him safe. That's a _promise_."

"We're all going to do everything we can," Sam reassured. "But if we can help it, we need to do this carefully to avoid detection. If that fails, of course we'll resort to-"

"Plan B," I said with a satisfied grin.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Yes, Plan B."

"So how can we be subtle?" Puck demanded. "One of us could acquire one of the politicians and the rest of us could like, I dunno, follow them into the back room and then-"

"You're still thinking Plan B," Mercedes pointed out matter-of-factly. "Besides, do you want to give a big political speech?"

That stumped us. We were quiet for a moment.

_[Are humans not comfortable with politics?] _Brittany asked, and I absorbed the sound of her voice that was in my head, feeling so pathetic at how much I had missed it in the last twenty-four hours.

"No, it's the speech part that makes us uncomfortable," Puck said with a nervous chuckle.

Uncomfortable.

Air conditioning.

"That's it!" I blurted out suddenly.

"What's it?" Kurt asked.

"The air conditioning!"

"What about it?" Mercedes asked.

"It's broken," I explained. "Sue was mad, and she had someone named 'Ryan' taking care of getting it fixed."

"'Ryan' as in 'Bryan Ryan', the Lieutenant Governor?" Kurt clarified.

I shrugged sheepishly. "I guess so."

"Shit," Puck muttered.

"For real," Mercedes agreed. "We are in deeper than we thought if Ryan is a Controller."

"Why didn't you mention the A/C before?" Sam demanded.

I shrugged again. "I guess I forgot."

He looked exasperated.

Whatever.

"Well there's our subtlety," Kurt pronounced. "We bust the air conditioning."

"Seems kind of… underwhelming. I mean, did the X-Men ever break an air conditioning to defeat Magneto?" Puck pointed out.

"Puck, we are not the X-Men," I snapped viciously. "Keep your dumb-ass, immature observations _to yourself_."

Sam, Kurt, and Mercedes all blinked at me in bewilderment. I felt my cheeks heating up, but I couldn't help the way I had snapped at Puck. I guess I kind of felt like he had stolen Brittany from me, even though it was my own stupid self that had sent her running into his arms. And fuck, I didn't even have proof that that had even actually happened, so I really needed to stop thinking that.

"Jeez, someone ate Bitchflakes this morning," Puck mumbled, glaring at me.

I didn't respond, and instead, turned to glare at the cornfield. But that just reminded me of the time I kissed Brittany there, and soon, I just felt completely awful.

* * *

We eventually agreed on a 6am meeting, planning to spend all day at the convention site. We had to break the air conditioning early if we wanted it to affect the 2pm convention.

I flew home in silence, turning over everything that happened in my brain. I had exploded at Puck- I knew I should apologize but I just couldn't bring myself to accept that fact just yet. After all, even if I _did_ send Brittany to him (stop thinking like that!) he didn't have to be such a damn pervert and encourage her, right?

To take my mind off Brittany, I focused on the next day's mission and my lack of tough avatars. On a whim, I flew over the farm that was located next to the corn field. There was a huge barn on the edge of the property, and I drifted down and circled it before noticing the open shaft in the roof that allowed for ventilation. I swooped in and perched in the rafters, scanning the pens of lethargic animals, but couldn't really see anything, since all the animals were resting near the rear of their stalls.

I drifted down to the floor of the barn and shifted back into myself- I had to acquire new forms as a human, anyways. The first thing that hit me was the atrocious smell, but I ignored it and began peeking into pens, one by one. I worked my way down the aisle but only encountered fat, lame-ass cows that were not exactly prime avatar material. Maybe if the Yeerks were allergic to milk...

"This is stupid," I mumbled to myself as I peeped over a gate and spied another brown fatty standing with her back to me near the rear of her stall. I was getting to the end of the row and I hadn't seen a single decent-

_"Woah."_

I reached the last stall and looked in, appalled. Inside the stall was a bull- not just _any_ bull, this guy was _huge_. He looked like he could've been the Cretan Bull in another life. His horns were long and perfectly curved forward, like the Texas Longhorns were his cousins. He was picturesque, really. Huge, broad chest, hooves bigger than my feet, thin, swishy tail- _this_ is the bull I pictured in my head, not those stupid cows with tiny horns.

A thought occurred to me- I had to _touch_ this beast!

"Hey, guy," I greeted nervously, carefully opening the stall door. The bull opened one round, brown eye and looked at me disinterestedly, not bothering to lift his head. I slowly inched my way into the stall, closing the gate behind me. My only escape.

I took a deep, calming breath, and tried not to think about the fact that Taurus over there could skewer me with one flick of his gigantic head.

Okay. I could do this.

I moved slowly, cautiously, over to the bull. I barely came up to his shoulder, he was so huge. "I guess they feed you Wheaties," I joked, mostly to calm myself down.

_Get a grip, Santana- at least make jokes that are _funny_!_

Taurus the Steroids Bull didn't laugh- I don't know what I would have done if he had, probably pissed myself- so I stretched my left hand out warily, letting go of the breath I'd been holding as my fingers came in contact with his thick, coarse skin.

I closed my eyes, took another deep breath, and concentrated. I thought about the bull's powerful stance, his strength, his large hooves and his long, sharp horns that could impale me within a sec-

My eyes snapped open.

_Not helping._

I closed my eyes again and focused on the feeling of the bull's skin beneath my fingers, and the deep, even way his shoulder moved with his breathing. After a few moments I peeked at the bull and saw that his eyes were once again closed.

Good. I had learned from experience that acquiring an animal puts them into a trance for a few moments, so while the bull was off dreaming about gouging a matador somewhere, I was going to get the fuck out of his pen before he decided that I was Spanish enough to be pissed at.

I pulled my hand away quickly and backed to the gate, and heard the bull stir just as I slipped out and closed it. He didn't come charging me, though, he just shuffled his hooves a bit and released a deep breath that sounded a lot like a snort.

I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly transformed back into bird, then flew out of the barn and to my house.

I felt a little better. Now, when shit hit the fan tomorrow, as it always did, I would be prepared.

* * *

Smashing the A/C didn't help. Although, it _did_ piss Sue right the fuck off, which was incredibly satisfying, regardless. I heard her screaming obscenities at Bryan Ryan two buildings away. To his credit, the air conditioning was working before we got there and fucked with it, but it was hard for me to feel sorry for an enemy alien.

After some death threats, Ryan was sent away. Sue had A/C technicians scrambling to repair the unit, but it was pretty thoroughly destroyed- we made sure of that. They would have to bring out a whole new unit, and there was no way they had time to get it up and running before the convention started, no matter how many technicians they had.

Unfortunately, it didn't stop Sue- she simply had Goolsby make some charming speech about how a little heat wasn't enough to deter our support and love of Our Country and Our Great State, was it? Of course not!

He was met with resounding applause, and Ryan was given the very official task of handing out paper paddles for people to fan themselves with.

So it looked like we had to come up with some other idea- and boy, did we.

This time, Plan _C _was the "Smash and Dash" plan, and Plan B was pretty straightforward- find the room where the pool was, disable the Yeerks there, and instead of letting politicians become _infested_, we would help them become _informed_.

Of course, _I _knew it wasn't going to be that simple. It never was.

* * *

_[So who exactly _is_ running?]_ Puck asked as we carefully and methodically searched for the secret room where the Yeerks were supposedly going to be posted. It was two hours before the convention, and we were hoping to beat the Yeerks to the room so we could get into a tactical position. All we had going for us in identifying the room was that it contained a mini Yeerk Pool, similar to the one we encountered at the Triple R.

_[Beiste is the current governor, up for re-election] _Kurt explained distractedly. _[My dad is running against her.]_

_[Her name is 'Beast?']_ Brittany wondered.

_[And where does Visser Seven and all that fit in?] _Puck said. _[I just want to be completely sure I have the whole picture, here.]_

_[Okay, Beiste is the governor, and Ryan is her Lieutenant. Goolsby is the State Attorney, and Sue is just the principal of our school and a known political enthusiast.]_

_[So she's not actually in the running for anything,] _I clarified.

_[Right,] _Kurt agreed. _[Some other state officials will be making some speeches, but the important ones are Beiste and my dad, because they are the two we know for sure are not infested, so they are the Yeerks' targets right now.]_

_[Burt will be speaking first, so we've gotta make sure Kurt is in position to reveal himself to him when the time comes,] _Sam reminded us. _[Then, once we have him, we fill Beiste in.]_

_[What do we do once we succeed in diverting their plan? Obviously the Yeerks are eventually going to figure out he's not infested, and they'll come after him,] _I pointed out.

_[We'll worry about that when it happens,] _Kurt muttered. _[For now, let's just concentrate on getting him out.]_

_[If you say so,] _Puck said carelessly.

After we searched all the rooms in the main hall, we turned down a secondary hall and discovered another, extremely small and cramped room.

_[It's a storage closet,] _Mercedes called. She was in lizard form, along with Sam. In fact, they were the _same_ lizard.

_[It's a hologram,] _Brittany corrected, sounding almost bored.

_[What?] _Sam asked. _[How do you know?]_

Brittany hesitated for a moment and then said, _[I just do. I sense the electric energy of the particles in this form.]_ She was a field cricket. You know, the kind that everyone mistakes for a roach? Yeah, that kind.

_[Ugh, Brittany, can you hop over there, please? I have the strangest urge to want to eat you,] _Mercedes said, disgusted.

_[Wanky.]_

_[Let's see what's on the other side of the hologram,] _Sam suggested.

We all scurried our way past the crackling air that indicated there was a hologram, and into a much brighter, much bigger room. The air was crisp, and there were no vibrations, indicating it was empty.

_[Brittany, you change back first,] _Sam ordered, and within seconds Brittany reported that she was her normal self, and that the room was indeed empty, prompting all of us to begin to change back.

We inspected the room. It was the typical "government building" room, with white concrete walls and linoleum floors. The only difference was, this one had a miniature Yeerk Pool in the corner.

"Bingo," I stated, nodding my head towards it.

Puck walked over to inspect the pool. "There's gotta be at least five Yeerks in here," he said, sounding repulsed and fascinated at the same time.

"That means they had at least five people they were planning to infest," Mercedes reasoned. She must be excellent at math.

"Comforting," I mumbled, looking around at the rest of the room. There literally wasn't much else in it. Just the usual pleasant chair that accompanied the Pool, complete with arm restraints.

"Well, I guess we should get in position and wait," Sam said anxiously. "We don't have much time until the convention starts, and I'm sure the Yeerks will be arriving any-"

The sound of muffled voices made us all freeze.

Oh, shit. We were so _busted_.

"Transform!" Puck hissed, and he didn't have to tell me twice- I shifted to mouse as fast as I possibly could.

"Where are we going, Cout?" I heard the sound of a low, rumbling female voice speaking out in the hall.

"Just over here, Shan, we wanted to show you something," a guy that sounded an awful lot like Kronk from_ The Emperor's New Groove _replied.

All right, so maybe I embellished his voice a little.

_Focus, Santana! Mouse!_

I heard footsteps approaching and, fully mouse, scampered behind the Yeerk Pool, hoping the others had done the same in time. I didn't hear any screaming or shuffling yet, so we must've made it before they noticed us.

_[That's Beiste,] _Kurt said in our heads.

"What is this?" she was saying. "Couter?"

_[Shit,] _Sam panicked. _[They're doing it NOW. They aren't waiting until the convention!]_

_[Fuck me,] _Puck cursed. _[What the hell do we do?]_

_[Brittany, it's gotta be you, you're the only one who is an immediate weapon,] _Sam said. _[The rest of us have to go human before we are any sort of use in battle.]_

_[Please,] _Kurt pleaded desperately. I'm sure he was thinking about his father possibly being next if we didn't stop Beiste from becoming infested.

I felt my little mouse heart pounding in anticipation for Brittany. I knew she must've been scared, and I suddenly remembered what she had said about her parents being so war-focused and how she _wasn't_ a warrior. I felt a twinge of bitter sadness at the fact that we were putting her in that situation, anyways.

_[Good luck,] _I whispered privately to her in her head.

She didn't answer, but I could almost feel her energy as she shifted to Andalite. There were sounds of struggling and Beiste was raising her voice.

"What the _hell_, Cout- this ain't funny no more!"

"Shut up, human, and stop resisting!"

"What are you even talking about? You sound stranger than-"

The sound of a fist connecting with flesh rang out across the room and I felt my anger flaring. I had no fucking clue who Couter or Beiste was, but this motherfucker thought it was cool to hit a woman?

Oh, _hell_ no! Alien or not, I was going to rip him to _shreds-_

"What the hell is _that?!"_

But then Brittany came into the picture.

"Andalite!" Couter shouted angrily.

"What the hell do we need a light for?" Beiste demanded incredulously. "And what in tarnation happened to that poor _horse_?"

I heard hooves on the linoleum, and more struggling sounds.

_[Sam,] _I said anxiously, thinking of what those struggling sounds meant. _[We can't just chill here-]_

_[I know, I know,] _he said tersely. _[Get ready to move out into the hallway, we'll do a quick change to avatars there.]_

"Aaaaggh!"

The sound of Couter screaming echoed off the floor. The volume of the sound and the vibrations made my mouse body extremely jumpy.

"You filthy Andalite! You will pay dearly for that!"

I almost chuckled at how much of a cliché villain Couter sounded like, but I was too busy focusing on the sounds of the fight and Brittany's safety.

_[Sam,] _Brittany began politely, _[Your assistance would be quite helpful.]_

_[Right,] _Sam said. _[Keep Couter in the room, Brittany. Everyone else, go, go, go! Out to the storage room!]_

We scurried through the hologram and into the small, cramped storage room. I began shifting to human immediately, watching as the others did the same. I heard the sound of Cooter's body hitting the linoleum, and cringed at what I might find when I got there, what Brittany had been forced to do.

_Can't think about that now. _I concentrated on the bull DNA inside me, and let the changes begin.

The first things that changed were my hands- they closed up into blobs and hardened to become sharp, black hooves. I felt my chest expanding in a way that plastic surgery would never achieve for me- my skin thickened and toughened and an extremely short sheen of coarse, dark brown fur spread over my body. My nostrils flared into what I'm sure was not an attractive look for me, and horns began to sprout out of my head. Around me I saw the others changing to their avatars- Mercedes had opted to go bear this time- and the small storage closet couldn't hold us as we bulked up.

We spilled into the room, and I was relieved to see Couter unconscious and bleeding, but not dead. Beiste stood backed into a corner, looking equal parts terrified, angry, and fascinated. I took in her physique- she was stout and solidly built, with a large, sweeping wave of brown hair on her forehead. The rest of her hair was short, and she was dressed in a pants-suit. Her shoulders were broad. She might have given Taurus the Bull a run for his money- this lady was a _wall_.

_[We aren't going to hurt you,]_ Sam told her gently.

As if we _could_.

"Who said that?" she asked wildly, her eyes darting around the room to Brittany, then to Puck, who was in wolf form. Kurt was an alligator instead of his usual bird form, and I resisted the urge to demand he immediately tell the story about how he acquired _that_ thing. Why hadn't he shared _that_ story instead of singing sickening show tunes?!

That was something I was going to confront him about later.

_[I did,] _Sam said, stepping forward. He was in his normal gorilla form, and he placed a hand on his chest to draw Beiste's attention.

"You're a gorilla," she blurted dumbly. "Ain't you got a circus to get back to?"

_[No,] _Sam said solemnly. I hoped his tone would sink in with Beiste. _[There's something important you should know. Your husband-]_

"She done laid 'im out," Beiste said angrily, gesturing at Brittany with a wide wave of her large hand. For a brief moment I wondered how Beiste knew Brittany was a female, but then, I guess lavender wasn't exactly the most masculine of colors, even for an alien. "I could've handled him, though."

_[No, that's not-]_

_[Sam, _hurry_,] _Mercedes urged.

_[I'm not sure what to say,]_ Sam admitted.

_[Your husband's an alien,] _I told Beiste bluntly, rolling my eyes, which I'm sure was funny to see on Taurus the Bull.

Beiste laughed nervously like she was expecting to be pranked, like Ashton Kutcher himself was going to pop out from behind the mini Yeerk Pool and tell her she'd been had. But when we didn't laugh and Ashton didn't appear, she frowned. "What?"

_[She,] _Sam gestured to Brittany, _[is an alien, too. She's from a race called-]_

"Andalites!" Goolsby screamed suddenly, furiously. We all snapped our heads to the entrance to the room, where Goolsby, flanked by three Hork-Bajir (those mini Godzillas I was telling you about ages ago) and two other human Controllers I didn't recognize, stood gaping at us in shock. He obviously wasn't expecting us, though I'm not really sure _why_, since we made a habit of showing up at pretty inconvenient times for the Yeerks quite regularly.

_[Shit just got real,] _I muttered, bracing myself for a fight.

_[We can't let the convention continue, they'll snatch my dad,] _Kurt cried, pleading. The Yeerks were slowly and cautiously moving into a tactical formation, preparing to engage us. _[We have to do Plan C.] _

_[And we have to get Beiste out of here, we can't fight in such a cramped space, and we can't let her fall into Yeerk hands, especially now that she's seen Brittany,] _Mercedes added.

"Get the Governor!" Goolsby screamed suddenly.

"The hell you will!" Beiste hollered.

_[Sam, get your Governor out,] _Brittany said tensely as the three Hork-Bajir charged us. _[I will stay and hold the Yeerks off.]_

She leaped forward to engage the Hork-Bajir, whipping her tail towards them faster than I could blink, and a deep gash appeared in her opponent's chest. He screamed and slashed blindly, but Brittany blocked his blow with the blade of her tail.

_[Do it,] _I growled to Sam. Another Hork-Bajir screamed and suddenly didn't have an arm. _[You guys get Beiste out of here… and crash the party. I'm staying with Brittany.]_

_[Me, too,] _Puck stated.

_[This is not up for _discussion_,] _I snarled, pawing the ground and getting myself pumped up. I was about to gouge the fuck out of some aliens.

_[Puck, we need you with us,] _Sam stated, knowing better than to argue with me when I had that tone, that it would only waste precious time_. [Mercedes, grab Beiste. Puck, Kurt- grab the rear. _I'll _make our escape-] _he swung casually over to a wall on his knuckles and punched his fist through it, creating a huge gaping hole. He paused to catch my gaze.

_[Look after her,] _he said seriously, nodding in Brittany's direction.

_[Do the same,] _I muttered, a little unsettled that of all the things he _could've_ said, he chose to say _that._ Why would he say that?

FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP!

The sound of Brittany's tail slicing into flesh brought me back to reality, and I turned and charged the nearest Hork-Bajir, impaling him on one of my horns. I tossed my head dramatically, throwing him like a rag doll, and he went sailing into the nearby wall.

_[Let's see how you suckas like SANTANA THE MINOTAUR!] _I roared to myself, spurring myself wildly on. I bucked and reared and kicked and trampled. I bellowed. I didn't even notice when more Hork-Bajir entered the room. They slashed at me, but their blades did little damage to my thick skin. They felt like tiny paper cuts, and only enraged me further.

_[That's how we do it in Lima Heights!] _I yelled, head butting another Hork-Bajir. He flew back about six feet.

He stayed down.

I was so into tearing through aliens that I didn't notice they were all down, unconscious from bleeding severely. The conscious ones were groaning in pain and writhing slightly. The human Controllers, including Goolsby, had fled a while ago, and I stood in the middle of the room, next to Brittany, surrounded by downed alien bodies. My hooves slid a bit in the blood-slicked floor, but I lowered my head as I heard the sound of more Hork-Bajir approaching. I snorted (might as well get into bull character, right?) and pawed the ground.

These fuckers messed with the wrong bull and I was going to fuck. Their. Shit._ UP._

_[Santana, _go_,] _Brittany growled at me, her voice in my head jarring me out of my bull-induced fury.

_[What?] _I snapped. I inwardly cringed at how harsh my tone sounded. She was finally talking to me, and I _ugh._

_[I'll handle this, go catch up with Sam and the others.]_

_[What about you?] _I demanded. _[I'm not leaving without you.]_

_[I'll be fine,] _she argued bitterly.

_[No, you _won't_. There's like six more of those creeps- I'm not letting you get slaughtered.]_

_[Why?] _she pleaded, her voice so full of desperation and emotion it surprised me; I realized with slight horror that she had kind of been planning on off-ing herself. _[It would save you the burden of having to interact with me, and it would save me from feeling like- like-] _she cut off painfully and I felt my heart twist excruciatingly in my chest. _[At least this way I can honor my parents.]_

I was shocked, but now was not the time to argue about it. _[Brittany, listen to me, because I'm only going to say this once more,] _I growled as three more Hork-Bajir entered the room. _[I'm. _Not. _Letting you. _Die_.]_

And on that note, I charged.

* * *

**Okay, serious question time!**

**Obviously, I have a lot of readers that read _Animorphs_ in some capacity or another, so you guys should have a general understanding of stuff in the story. But to all my non-_Animorphs_ readers, have I lost you at all? That is to say, are you understanding stuff or am I confusing the shit out of you?**

**I tend to slip into an "O OF COURSE THEY ARE GOING TO KNO WUT I AM TALKING ABOUT :B" mindset sometimes. A lot of the stuff I have deliberately avoided will be explained in upcoming chapters, but as far as the stuff I _have_ explained, I just want to make sure that I explained it well enough. So if there's something that you were like, "Uh. Excuse me, but. WUT" about, let me know so I can fix it. I just don't want to glaze over the important shit- I want everyone to be able to enjoy the story without needing prior _Animorphs_ nerd knowledge, hahaha.**

**Feel free to review if it pleases you!**

**See you next Monday, kids! Unless I'm too busy being DEAD from Britney 2.0...**


	9. The Clown Life

**Britney 2.0 didn't kill me, but it came damn close. I crawled my way out of a dark hole of sadness. I'm sure most of you are feeling kind of down about the episode, too, and if you're not, well, then you obviously have no feelings. **

**I decided to throw in a special early update to all of you, a "pick-me-up" chapter, if you will.**

**Don't say I never gave you anything.**

* * *

She was lying on her bed, reading.

She was lying on her bed, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, reading a book, the title of which my weak duck eyes could not decipher.

I felt an indiscernible tug to be near her- my tiny duck heart clenched painfully at the thought that I _could not_. Her room seemed so warm and inviting- _she_ seemed so warm and inviting-

_Not for you_, I reminded myself sadly. _She wants nothing to do with you._

I tried not to think of the painful conversation we had had a few days prior, or how lonely I truly was without her. She had made me feel like my situation was not as unpleasant as it seemed, but now I could only come to the conclusion that I had been right in my original assumptions that it was, in fact, extremely unpleasant.

It was chilly outside, perched on the branch of a tree near to her window. In the dark. Alone. I felt slightly guilty at the thought that she would probably not take kindly to the idea of me spying on her- but I was nothing if not honorable, and I didn't spy on her often, and _never_ when she was doing things that human society deemed to be _private_-

A tremor ran through me and I ruffled my feathers in an attempt to create some heat; in my time spent on Earth, I had learned that ducks- that was the bird form I was currently in- were not built for low temperatures, and traveled south across thousands of miles when it grew too cold. The idea seemed appealing, if only to escape my current problems- but I'd miss her too much.

I sent another long, longing glance through her window at her. I only made these visits when my loneliness and despair threatened to consume me, when I couldn't bear the thought of not seeing her another moment. When I had to reassure myself that she was okay, that she was happy, that we were doing the right thing and it didn't matter how much I was suffering because she deserved someone who could be _honest_ with her-

My name is Britta-Nysp-Ierce, and I have a confession.

I'm in love with someone who is not an Andalite.

* * *

I had been stranded on planet Earth for approximately 38 Earth days, having no contact with the Andalite Fleet or my home planet. I had been trying to make the best of my time, learning as much as I could about the humans and recording important information that might aid in the Fleet's recovery of the planet from the Yeerks. The humans are a complex species with very strange habits, many of which the average Andalite would not understand, so I will try to explain my findings to the best of my abilities, though understand my knowledge of humans is quite limited in the grand spectrum of things, and also slightly biased.

I enjoyed doing research, however, because it was easier not to think of Santana when I was distracted, or when I was observing other humans. It was for that reason that I had been spending more time with my human friend, Puck. He seemed to have nothing at all to occupy his time with, which made him an ideal distraction because he was always available to help take my mind off of things.

"You're shitting me," Puck started. (I would like to explain here that it is customary for humans to shorten each other's names because their means of communication is by mouth sounds and not telepathy and consequently requires more effort. Therefore it makes logical sense to assume that "Puck" is a shortened form of a name I had not yet learned.) "You and Santana have been _fooling around_?"

I nodded, which is a physical expression of how humans agree with each other. At least, I supposed I should agree with Puck's statement. I wasn't entirely sure what "fooling around" was, but if it meant that Santana and I had sometimes put our mouths together in an intimate manner, then I was right in confirming Puck's assessment. "We no longer _fool around_, though," I clarified. "She has since told me she does not wish to see me anymore."

"Dude," Puck said sympathetically. (A "dude" is a popular human term for a male human, although it is sometimes used to reference non-humans as well as non-males. I do realize it makes very little sense, as does most human behavior.)

I was currently in the human form I had created by performing a _frolis manuever _to combine two sets of human DNA. I had also used certain strands of my own DNA to keep eyes similar to my own, and the result had been rather interesting- however it took me a few days to realize that the form I had created was considered incredibly attractive by human standards.

As I previously said, Puck and I had been spending a lot more time together lately, ever since Santana had refused my advances. I hadn't been entirely sure why she had suddenly grown so cold towards me at the time, but after some thinking, I deduced that she perhaps deemed cross-species intimacy too complicated. Perhaps she was disgusted with the fact that I was female.

Perhaps she was disgusted with _me_.

"Perhaps she is disgusted with me," I said sadly, voicing my thoughts to Puck. It was late at night, after our poorly-executed plan at the human political convention, and we were in the woods near my scoop. Puck had tried to talk to me about what had happened after we had parted ways and I had remained alone with Santana, but all I could think about was my interaction with her, and it prompted me to come clean about my confused feelings regarding our relationship. I guess I hoped in some tiny way that Puck would have some advice, having known her for far longer than I had.

Puck shook his head. "No way- she's _totally_ into you, trust me. Have you seen how jealous she's been? She's just a pussy, and she doesn't want to accept the fact that she's a lezbo."

"I thought she was of Latin-American descent," I said, suddenly confused. Hadn't Santana told me that?

"What?" Puck asked, quirking his eyebrow up. "No, I mean she's _gay_. Totally into munching carpets."

"I have not sampled a carpet, yet, as I was unaware that they were edible, even though the various colors and textures make them pleasing to the senses- although if Santana enjoys them I may be more inclined to try them in the fu-"

"Brittany, focus," Puck said, placing his hand on my shoulder. Humans do that to gain attention or to give comfort. In this case I interpreted his gesture as one to help bring my attention back to the conversation, although to be fair, the idea of eating a carpet seemed intriguing. I highly doubted that normal human teeth could tear through the fibers, however, with the aid of certain tools-

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I'm just not sure what I should do now. I want to respect her wishes, because maybe it would be best after all if we just didn't see each other; I'm not sure if I'm ready to-"

"Britt," Puck said again.

I released a heavy breath through my mouth. "Right."

"Let me handle this. I'll talk to her. You just have to do me one favor."

"I am in your debt," I said seriously, nodding to inform him that I was listening very intently.

"You've gotta smash her for me."

"That sounds painful."

Puck smirked.

* * *

I spent the majority of my time on Earth at the scoop I had constructed. It wasn't a shining example of Andalite construction, because I wasn't very good at constructing it. I had never needed to make one before, but my need to have a place to call home surpassed my self-doubt over my scoop-making abilities. It was small- I got tired after creating the main compartment- but it was only for myself, anyways.

Well, if Santana wanted to share it with me I wouldn't object, of course, but I doubted she would want to spend any length of time in a hole dug out into the side of a hill at the edge of a small clearing. I barely wanted to spend any time there myself, especially when I could be spending time in Santana's room.

_Not anymore_, I reminded myself again. It was difficult not to think of all the things I had lost along with Santana.

When I wasn't at my scoop, I was usually at her house.

But since I was not at her house, I was usually with Puck, although we never went to his house- he always came to visit me at my scoop. I didn't mind. I felt more comfortable in the woods, and I think he did, too.

If I wasn't at my scoop with Puck, at my scoop alone, or at Santana's house, then I was in human form at the local library. (A library is a structure created to house books, where humans may go to gain unlimited access to information about a broad range of subjects. With a "library card" humans may borrow the books from the library at no personal cost, on the condition that they return them after a specified period of time. One of the very few genius ideas of humans.)

It was the second day of the human week, which humans call Monday. The day after the political convention debacle, and my confession to Puck. Human youths are required to go to school five days out of their seven-day week, and Monday was one of them, which is why I was surprised to see Puck walking towards my scoop from the woods.

"Hey, Brittany," he said cheerily. He was in his usual clothes that he transformed in- a pair of skin-tight shorts. (Humans have very little fur covering their bodies, and this fact embarrasses them, so they created artificial skin, which they call "clothes." There are many varieties and there is an incorrect way to wear them, so I'd done a lot of research at the library to ensure I followed all of the rules. Amusingly, my human companions had been unable to figure out how to transform with anything other than extremely tight-fitting clothing.) Once Puck reached me, he handed me a rolled up magazine, which is a thinner version of a book and contains mostly pictures and articles written about specific subjects. "Brought you something," he said cheekily, smirking.

I unrolled the magazine to look at the cover. _[Why is it moist?]_

"It was in my mouth, I didn't want to walk here. I went Fido," he explained as he reached into my scoop to grab an article of clothing, called "pants," that fit loosely over the lower half of his body, around his legs. He visited often enough to keep them at my scoop.

I opened the first page and scanned over the images. I was confused as to why he brought me a magazine containing pictures of naked humans that seemed to be devouring each other. Was this some kind of human ritual that I hadn't learned about yet?

_[Do humans sometimes eat each other?]_ I asked curiously as I looked over the images.

Puck smiled wryly. "I guess you could put it that way."

I was at once even more confused and horrified by the behaviors of humans. In one of the images, the female human seemed to be-

"You can look at that later," Puck said with a shrug. "I just thought it might help you out, you know, with Santana."

_[You want me to _eat_ her?] _I asked, horrified.

Puck shrugged again. "That's up to you, I guess."

_[Thank you for the magazine,] _I said genuinely. _[But shouldn't you be in school? It is Monday, correct?]_

He scoffed loudly. "After the weekend we had? Fuck that shit, dude, school can blow me. I skipped."

I took a moment to process this information, sinking into a daydream of how nice it would be to have been able to forsake my lessons at the Academy back home. The thought of home made my hearts hurt, so I turned my thoughts elsewhere. _[How will you talk to Santana if you are not in school?]_

"I'll see her after school at Cheerios practice. You wanna go do something?" (For those wondering, "Cheerios" is the name of the cheerleading team that Santana was a member of. Cheerleading is a sport in which humans- mostly females, but males can participate, too- do a number of acrobatic moves and encourage audiences of sports to cheer for the teams they support.)

_[What did you have in mind?]_

* * *

Puck and I spent the rest of the day being "truants." At least, that's what the officer of the law that questioned us of our whereabouts had called us. Puck explained that we were over eighteen (that is the age when a human juvenile is considered an adult by human societal standards) and therefore were not required to attend school, but the officer (Puck called him a "pig" after he left) did not seem happy with our response.

After that encounter, Puck and I stayed off of the more frequented streets as he showed me around the human town. We entered many structures that sold various items, including clothing, food, and "antiques." I was uncertain as to what made something an antique as opposed to a regular item, and when asked, Puck did not know, either. I added it to my mental list of things to research at the library.

We stopped at an establishment to obtain food. My human stomach was growling in what I had come to recognize as a symptom of hunger. The establishment had a large, golden M outside of it, and a picture of a human with bright red hair dressed in what humans consider to be eccentric clothing.

"He is very pale," I mentioned as Puck lead me inside the establishment.

"Huh? Oh, that's Ronald. He's a clown."

Another mental item to my list. "Why are we entering _this_ food establishment, Puck?" I asked.

"Because I'm fucking starving."

"But the establishment across the street claims that they are the _King_ of Burgers. Aren't humans required to obey Kings?"

"What?" Puck paused, processing my statement. "Burger King sucks!"

I grabbed Puck's arm. "Shh! What if the King hears you?"

Puck gave me a funny look. "You're strange, Brittany."

* * *

After we ate, (I indulged in something called a "Big Mac," though I'm not exactly sure why it was titled that, because it was not particularly large by human food standards.) Puck led the way back to my scoop, explaining that he had to head off to get ready for football practice. He gave me a wink and told me he would talk to Santana for me, though, and flew away.

Once he left, I again headed into the human town, hiding behind a large trash receptacle to transition to human before walking to the library. Walking as a human was something that I didn't particularly care for- it was extremely unstable with only two legs for balance, but I was proud of myself for managing not to fall over.

Once I reached the library, I began to do some research. I discovered that being a clown was an actual human profession, which appalled me. It was not very reputable, of course, but the idea that a human could choose a career solely based on bringing joy to others made me feel funny inside. There was no way I could ever choose a similar career as an Andalite. Even Grass-scape designers and Cloud Artists _created_ things. Clowns only created laughter.

And, sadly, I didn't need to be a clown to create that.

To take my mind from the disturbing thoughts about my culture, I proceeded to research the meaning of "antiques," but found the definition just as ambiguous as the items labeled such. I was about to leave the library more puzzled than ever when I suddenly remembered Puck's magazine, and what he had said, and how it all related back to Santana.

I decided to do a little research on "homosexuality," which is what humans called it when two same-sex specimens entered into a sexual relationship. Apparently it was very common throughout many Earth animals, and quite widespread among humans, as well, though it was still culturally frowned upon in many areas, which confused me to no end. Attraction is based off of a number of factors, produced by nature to ensure procreation. However, procreation is not naturally possible within same-sex couplings, so the idea that nature in and of itself would encourage such attraction was puzzling.

Furthermore, the idea that I, as a completely alien species, could be attracted to Santana- and her to me, as Puck reassured with such conviction- was even more mind-boggling. Was there something wrong with us?

_Attraction ensures the strongest coupling, _I sorted out. _Which means that Santana and I are strongest _together_. Procreation is not a factor, the technology is possible._

After my research, I came to one conclusion: nature had advanced before human technology had.

But then there was the whole issue of love, another chemical reaction thrown into the mystifying mix.

Was what I felt for Santana _love_? I knew what love felt like as an Andalite- indeed, not the romantic sort, only love for my family- but as a human, the chemical reaction was undoubtedly different. I knew that I was devastated to be kept apart from her, that she made me feel like no one else on any planet ever had, and that I felt that perplexing tug to be near her constantly.

Were my feelings love? And did Santana return those same feelings?

Puck had stated that she was "into" me. What did that _mean_? Was she merely attracted to me, since, admittedly, my human form was attractive? Or were there feelings involved? I had no way of knowing until I asked her about it, and she currently didn't want to talk to me-

_Puck's fixing that_, I interrupted myself.

Even still, perhaps Santana was scared that we could not procreate? The technology was possible, but it was still years away from being accessible to the human public. It was a simple procedure for me, and if I were to stay on Earth…

_No. _Those thoughts would only lead me into trouble.

Puck had mentioned that Santana couldn't accept that she was gay (a short human term deeming someone as a homosexual) and I could understand, with the negative pressures placed on homosexuals by society, why she felt that way. What I didn't understand was why human society placed those negative pressures to begin with. Homosexuality did not seem all that uncommon, especially in nature- and from what I observed, the females in Puck's magazine practiced homosexual acts on nearly every page.

Procreation in and of itself could not be so completely revered that homosexuals were shunned for their inability to do so, because sex was not simply something humans did _only_ to procreate.

My thoughts were taking me in confusing circles, and after an hour I decided that I had to talk to Santana if I was going to figure out anything. It all kept leading back to that.

I went behind my usual trash receptacle and transformed into duck.

Puck said Santana was at Cheerios practice, right?

* * *

I watched the two practices from high above the football field. Watching Santana cheer left me breathless, even in duck form, and I had to do something to take my mind off of her, so I watched the football practice instead. (Football is a competition sport that humans play. I enjoyed it very much when I was pretending to be Sam for three days while he was infested.)

Puck spotted me and gave me a tiny wave, and I tilted back and forth in the air to show him that I saw him. I watched Sam throw the football clumsily, missing his target nearly every time. He had great aim, but he really needed to focus on his release, because the football was almost always too high or too low.

I watched him throw a few more times before I decided to intervene.

_[Release the ball sooner,] _I called, and Sam was so surprised that he ended up slamming the ball into the ground right in front of him, and it bounced back and hit him in the face. I suddenly understood the value of "helmets," which are protective head coverings, even more.

He looked up at me, and I heard Puck call out teasingly, "What's the matter, Sammy, a harmless duck making you suck worse than usual?"

Sam glared at Puck and picked up the football, preparing to throw it again. He wound up, paused, and then threw, releasing the ball a fraction of a second sooner, as I instructed. This time, the ball sailed directly into his target's open arms, and his fellow players looked shocked.

I fluttered down to the bleachers (that is where human audience members sit to watch the football games) and perched a few rows away from Puck, watching as Sam completed 85% of his throws.

"Nice job," Puck complimented, not looking at me.

One of the other human players turned and gave him a curious look, and Puck shrugged. Then the football team leader, called a "coach," blew a metal device which emits a sharp sound, called a "whistle," and the people on the field took a break to re-hydrate, while the ones sitting on the bleachers, including Puck, trotted out to the field.

_[Sam!] _I called excitedly as he made his way over to the water station. I was extremely proud of him for doing so well, and wanted to congratulate him.

Sam spotted me and jogged over. "Thanks," he muttered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He had his helmet tucked under his arm and his hair was plastered to his forehead from sweat.

_[You did well. Your aim is remarkable, it's just the timing of your release that was off, but you corrected it.]_

He nodded, sipping his water, and looked at me. I gave him a few other tips, and he listened silently, nodding every so often to show that he understood the things I was telling him.

_[I really think your next game is going to go far better than your last,] _I finished as the whistle blew, signifying their break was almost over. _[Just employ the strategies we talked about and you will make V.I.P.]_

Sam gave me an incredulous look, but didn't say anything.

_[Have you gone mute?] _I asked, concerned.

He lowered his head. "You do realize that it looks like I'm having a conversation with a duck, right?" he said softly.

_[But the duck is doing most of the talking,] _I pointed out. Did humans not talk to animals? How sad!

"Not sure if that makes it more crazy or less crazy," he muttered. The whistle blew a second time. "I've gotta go."

_[Good-bye, Sam!] _I said cheerfully, feeling proud of myself.

Maybe bringing joy to others was in my future after all.

* * *

I stayed until practice was over, although I spent the majority of it airborne, watching Sam impress his teammates and Puck's attempts to make me laugh by acting silly. It worked a lot of the time, and by the time practice was over, he made his way over to where I had flew down to a spot beneath the bleachers.

_[See you later?] _I asked hopefully, looking up at him.

"Wait," he said. "She's coming to talk to you."

_[Now?] _I panicked. I hadn't expected her to talk to me so soon! I hadn't prepared any of what I wanted to say, and I hadn't decided to tell her anything about myself yet or what those things about myself might be, and if I didn't, our conversation would just end the exact same way as before and I couldn't handle another-

"Relax, _she's _going to talk, not you."

I realized my panic had come through my duck form, as I had begun pacing and fluttering my wings. I stopped and took a deep breath, calming myself.

_[Okay.]_

"Brittany?"

I froze. It was Santana.

"That's my cue to leave," Puck said with a grin. "Good luck!" He turned and walked away, but not before giving Santana a look that I couldn't discern, and she glared at him. Her eyes fell to me, and I casually began to preen the feathers on my chest, letting the duck instincts take over, losing myself.

"Hey," she said softly, and my little duck heart nearly melted. I had missed her voice so much. I wanted to hug her, but I didn't think it would be as satisfying as a duck, nor would she enjoy it.

_[Hi,] _I answered carefully. I continued to preen myself to ignore the impulse of wanting to change to human and wrap her in my arms. It was getting stronger the longer she stood there, staring at me.

"Listen, I- would you look at me? Please?" she pleaded.

I stopped preening and turned my duck eyes to hers, and she bit her lip. After a moment she crouched down closer to me. "I feel silly talking to a duck," she admitted. "But I don't really deserve any different after how I treated you."

I was silent, listening as she took a deep breath and continued on. "Look, I'm sorry. I was out of line, and I shouldn't have treated you like that. The truth is, I- well, I-" she averted her eyes for a moment and I waddled a step closer to her.

_[You're scared.]_

She looked up at me through her lashes, and I had that breathless feeling again. She nodded, a slight movement that was barely perceptible. "Mmhm." She lifted her head after a moment. "But I want to make it up to you. I- I can't handle us fighting like this."

My duck heart was pounding as she spoke, because I felt the same way. I couldn't believe that she was saying the words that I had hoped to hear for days, but I knew that it meant I was going to have to open up to her, and I had no idea if I could even do that.

She noticed my expression, even through my duck form, and chuckled lightly. "I promise to try and be more understanding, too," she pledged. "It's just- B, I want to know you. I want to know _everything_ about you. And I guess, the fact that I can't- well, it's-"

_[I understand,] _I interrupted. I didn't want to hear her say that it was something she couldn't get past, because I wasn't even sure if I was ready to tell her certain things. So I definitely couldn't promise her that I was going to tell her everything she wanted to know. Instead I said, _[I'm willing to try, too.]_

She smiled wistfully at me. "I wish I could hug you, but I guess I'll save that for later." I held out my wing to her, and she grasped it awkwardly, her eyes dropping to the side in embarrassment. "This works, too," she said quietly.

_[So, should I come over tonight?] _I asked.

"Actually- no," she said sheepishly. "I wanted to ask you- well, I mean, I wanted to see if-" she stumbled over her words and it surprised me, because she was always so sure of herself when she spoke. I waited a moment as she gathered herself.

"There's this homecoming dance this week," she explained. "I mean, it's totally stupid, and I understand if you don't want to," she rushed. "I just thought, well-" she paused.

_[San, it's okay,] _I reassured, hoping to calm her obvious nervousness. She looked at me, her eyes holding an impassioned look.

"Would you go with me?" she blurted quickly.

I wished I was a human right then, because ducks aren't very good at smiling.

* * *

It turns out that a "homecoming dance" is an extremely serious social event for human youths in high school. I hadn't realized what an important incident it had been for Santana to ask me to accompany her until Puck congratulated me, and then Kurt later explained it to me further.

It was after school on Wednesday, the fourth day in the human week, and I hadn't seen Santana since Monday. She decided that it would be best if we took some time to prepare ourselves for the inevitable conversation we needed to have. She also admitted to needing time to prepare for the dance, which was happening on Friday, the sixth day of the human week.

I was completely surprised when Kurt met me at my scoop instead of Puck.

"He's at football practice, remember?" Kurt said. "They have a big game tomorrow, and then the dance is on Friday. And since Santana already has an arsenal of things to wear to the dance, I decided you could probably use some help."

He was right- I had no clue what to wear to such an important event. I didn't want to embarrass Santana when she had just gained all of the courage to ask me to accompany her.

"I figured we'd hit the mall, shop the departments, you know. There's bound to be something good on the sales racks, although with that human body of yours, I'm sure you could wear a potato sack and still look fabulous."

I smiled politely at Kurt, even though I didn't really know what he was talking about, and followed him as he transformed into a bird and led the way to the mall. We changed into human form and he looked appalled.

"Brittany! What are you wearing?!"

I looked down at myself, slightly panicked that maybe I had broken some human clothing code that I was unaware of, but everything seemed to be on correctly. "Clothes?" I offered.

He gestured to my outfit. "How did you transform with _clothes_? I thought we could only change with skin-tight stuff!"

I shrugged. "_You_ can. I've always been able to do it. I just chose not to because I didn't understand human clothing rules."

Kurt looked flabbergasted. "Do you know what this _means_? _No more spandex_!" He looked overwhelmingly happy, so I decided not to interrupt him as he went on and on about the possibilities for fashion, and instead smiled to myself again.

My profession as a clown was looking more and more promising.

* * *

We spent a solid hour walking through several human shops. Kurt instructed me to try on complicated garments called "dresses," which were sometimes difficult to determine how exactly to get into. Mercedes had joined up with us and she assisted me in the room that was sectioned off specifically for humans to change into clothes. I hadn't realized what a huge part of human society clothing was, but it definitely opened my eyes.

"No, Brittany," Mercedes said with just the slightest amount of frustration in her voice. "It goes over your head."

"Well, the last one I had to step into," I explained, lifting the dress above me and wriggling into it.

Once Mercedes fastened the dress around me with something called a "zipper," she stepped back to admire it. "I think that's the one," she said. She took another moment to scan her eyes over me before she nodded firmly. "Yep. Let's go show Kurt."

I stepped out of the dressing room and into the waiting area. Kurt's eyes lit up when he saw me. He jumped to his feet and clapped his hands excitedly. "That's the one!" he squealed.

Mercedes raised a triumphant eyebrow and smirked. "Tolja."

I didn't see anything particularly exciting or special about the specific garment I was wearing, but the shade was pretty, and I had to admit it didn't scratch me uncomfortably like some of the previous candidates had.

Kurt reached over and lifted up a small rectangle of paper attached to the dress by a thin plastic string. He gasped with delight. "It's a steal!" he said. "Britt, go take that off, we're buying it."

I nodded to demonstrate that I had heard and understood him, and went back to the dressing room I had been previously occupying.

"Tug the zipper down," Mercedes called helpfully. I guess she heard my struggling in the stall.

I followed her advice and was soon yanking the dress over my head, taking precaution not to rip it. I re-dressed quickly and the three of us made our way to a small station near the changing rooms where humans could pay for their purchases.

"How are you paying for this?" Mercedes asked Kurt.

Kurt grinned. "Oh, Santana gave me her credit card."

"I thought she had it taken away," Mercedes muttered. "Didn't she complain about that for like, an _hour_ one time? I thought I would never hear the end of it."

Kurt laughed. "She convinced her dad that her mom was being unfair, and now-" he flourished a small, golden square of plastic, and waved it around dramatically for effect.

"Cool," Mercedes chuckled. "I don't suppose she wants to buy us lunch?"

"All part of the bargain, my dear Mercedes."

* * *

I thought that once we found a dress and had dinner, we would be done "shopping." But when I mentioned this idea to Kurt, he laughed uproariously at me, almost causing tears to fall from his eyes. We spent the next hour searching for something that Kurt called "accessories," which included "shoes" (those are artificial hooves- humans have tender feet and need coverings to protect them, and, like clothing, there are many varieties and rules for wearing them) and some small metal trinkets that hung around the neck by metal chains.

Once Kurt was satisfied that I had obtained all I needed for the dance, he told me I was free to go, and that I should meet at his house Friday after school so he could ensure I was prepared.

I thanked him and Mercedes and returned to my scoop. Humans were more complicated than I had ever even imagined, and they puzzled me to no end.

* * *

Thursday, the fifth day of the human week, was the day before the dance, and this time, it was Mercedes who came to my scoop.

"You ready?"

_[Ready for what?] _I asked, startled to see her.

"The big Homecoming football game! I can't go without you," Mercedes said, like that information should have been obvious to me. She waved her hand. "So transform to duck or whatever and let's go, we're gonna be late."

I smiled at her with my eyes, and followed her directions.

* * *

"There's Sam!" Mercedes pointed to the big number 6 that was printed on Sam's football jersey.

I nodded excitedly, smiling and hoping Sam remembered everything we had talked about. I really wanted him to win the game this time, but I was really just happy to be spending time with Mercedes and watching something I enjoyed.

And then Santana came onto the field.

She looked absolutely beautiful, and I felt that twisty feeling in my stomach as she scanned the crowd. Was she looking for me?

Her brown eyes caught mine, and she smiled, causing her cheeks to make small indentions on themselves. She stood there, gazing at me, in her cheerleading uniform. I wondered briefly if she was cold, since I, myself was wearing a jacket to protect from the chill, but she seemed perfectly fine, and she'd be doing a lot of moving, anyways, which would keep her warm, but not as warm as I'd keep her if she'd sit with-

I averted my eyes, swallowing hard. My thoughts were getting carried away again. When I looked back up at her, she had an amused but puzzled expression on her face, and she tilted her head to the left, indicating that she had to go in that direction. I nodded, and she began to move, her gaze not leaving mine as she walked backwards, grinning.

I giggled at how silly she was acting, and Mercedes grabbed my arm, also grabbing my attention. "I'm going to go get some nachos. You want anything?"

I shook my head, not even entirely sure what "nachos" were, and she got up. "Do you want me to accompany you?" I asked. Human females often liked companionship when traveling to the restroom or to concession stands. (I learned that from watching "television," which is a human form of entertainment. Humans called "actors" pretend they are someone else, and speak pre-planned dialogue written on paper. The whole scene is then recorded and sent out through special waves into a small box that receives the waves and unscrambles them into a replica of the scene. At least, I think that's how it works. It's fascinating to observe.)

"Nah, I'm good. You stay here and wait for Kurt, he's supposed to be joining us- you know how that goes."

I nodded. I did not know how that goes, but I supposed it was not extremely important.

Kurt did manage to show up some time after Mercedes had returned with her nachos, and they bickered with each other while I watched the game. Sam was doing far better, and our team was actually winning. Santana and her fellow cheerleaders were completely riled up, doing flips and jumps and throwing each other up into the air. It looked dangerous, but it was also highly entertaining. My stomach clenched in fear every time Santana was airborne, but I clapped excitedly whenever her shoes safely touched the ground.

She was smiling and waving and underneath the bright lights of the stadium she looked magnificent. I wished that I could jump down the rows of bleachers, pick her up and kiss her, but instead I let my thoughts drift to the many times we had kissed in the past, and the warm feelings it gave me.

The roaring of the crowd around me snapped me out of my dreaming, and I suddenly realized that the game was over. The three of us were on our feet screaming, because Sam and Puck and our team had won: 17-9.

Mercedes and Kurt were hugging each other and cheering, and then I was speechless as they were both suddenly hugging _me_, and I thought of how, up to that moment, Santana had been the only one who had ever hugged me, and I smiled and laughed right along with them.

For all the joy clowns bring to others, I suppose they can't help but bring joy to themselves in return.

* * *

"Kurt, these shoes are painful."

"No pain, no gain, Britt," he said nonchalantly. "Now hold still, I'm almost done."

It was Friday night. Dance night. Dance night with Santana.

I was at Kurt's house, down in his room, and he was applying something called "make-up" to my human face.

"Now, I don't want to put _too_ much, because obviously we want your natural beauty to shine through… not that anything about you being in that body is natural," he mused softly to himself as he smeared something colorful across my lips.

"Voila!" he said. He turned me towards the "mirror," which is a reflective surface made of glass, and smiled. "What do you think?"

I searched my face in the mirror. I didn't really find my own self attractive, nor did I understand what might make me attractive to others. But even if I did know, there was only one human I wanted to seem attractive to. "Do you think Santana will like it?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "_Please_- you'll have to club her to death to keep her off of you tonight," he chuckled.

I looked alarmed. "I don't-"

"Relax, Britt, it was a joke," he said, still chuckling. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to change, myself, and then we'll be on our way."

I waited patiently while Kurt changed his clothes, and then we went upstairs. He grabbed some keys. "We'll take my dad's SUV," he told me, and I nodded like I knew what he was talking about. I was getting really good at doing that.

The drive was really short. Kurt blasted some music that sounded a lot like a crying Vanarx, and he sang along. While his singing in and of itself was not particularly painful to listen to, his music selection was rather disagreeable, but I kept my silence on the matter. I didn't want to upset him, especially after all he'd done for me.

We exited the SUV and were greeted by Mercedes and Sam, who had our "tickets," which were little squares of paper that granted us admission into the dance event. I was familiar with tickets from when Santana and I had gone to the movies.

My heart made a familiar tug at the thought of Santana, and as we entered the school building and moved down the hall to the room known as the "gymnasium," my heart was pounding so hard I was concerned it might beat out of my chest.

"You look really nice, Brittany," Sam complimented, but I hardly heard him, because _there she was._

I felt my mouth suddenly go dry, and I swallowed as she made her way over to our group, smiling shyly at me. I tried to smile back, but my brain failed me. I stood, standing with my mouth slightly agape, watching as she gracefully moved towards me.

"Hi," she murmured as she moved right in front of me, keeping barely any distance between us. Her scent nearly overwhelmed me, and I fought the urge to lean in and inhale her. Smelling people was generally a practice unaccepted by humans.

"H-Hi," I croaked in a whisper. I bit my lip, wondering how I sounded to her, and raked my eyes over Santana's body. I didn't focus too much on the dress she was wearing, but more about how her body looked in the dress. The shade of it brought out the appealing color of her tan complexion. I quickly discovered, right then, that my human body found the curves of _her_ body extremely appealing- a factor of my attraction.

I reached up to touch my own chest as my heart pounded faster. "Do you hear that?" I asked nervously, and she shook her head slowly, still smiling at me.

"You look absolutely _gorgeous_," Santana complimented softly.

"Oooo-kay, I guess that's our cue to leave," Kurt said loudly.

"Yeah, let's go," Mercedes chimed in with a grin.

"Have fun, you kids," Sam teased. He offered his arm to Mercedes and the three of them strolled away, but I couldn't even focus on anything but Santana's brown, shining eyes.

"You look edible," I told her in response. She gave me a curious look and I realized that might not have been the correct way to say what I meant. "I mean, you look good enough to _eat_. Like, I could eat you, like a carpet-"

"Shh, Britt," Santana said, grinning as she placed a finger on my lips to silence me. I fought the urge to dart my tongue out to taste her skin- another unaccepted practice. She lowered her hand down to grasp mine, and it felt like my skin was on fire from the warmth of her touch. "Why don't we go sit down."

* * *

It turns out a homecoming dance is where humans in high school come together to have clothed "sex on the dance floor." Or at least, that's what Santana told me.

I watched in open fascination as the kids thrust their pelvises into each other, straddled each other's legs, and let their hands roam over each other's bodies in a publicly inappropriate manner. It was very carnal, but I guiltily admit that I longed to be doing those things with Santana, clothed or not. Being near her evoked some kind of basic physical need in me that I could not satisfy no matter how many magazines Puck brought me. I had done some research into the basic way that sexual intercourse worked for humans, as well as for two females, so I was prepared.

But I also remembered what Santana had told me previously- that it was something people in love do. Well, I had already admitted to myself that I might be in love with Santana. It was _her_ feelings that remained a mystery.

We sat at a table with Sam and the others, and engaged in conversation, laughing and joking and drinking a red, sweet beverage called "punch." Every once and a while Santana would look at me, and her eyes would flick down momentarily to stare at my lips before returning to my eyes. She did it quite often, and I wondered if she was dropping me the _hints_ Puck had warned me about.

After a while, Puck sauntered over to me. "Hey, Brittany- wanna dance?" he asked, offering his hand to me with a smirk.

I smiled at him and moved to take his hand, but Santana stood up abruptly and pushed his hand away, tugging me to my feet with her other one. "Like hell she does, Puckerman," she growled, pulling me away.

I briefly wondered if "Puckerman" was the full name of Puck as Santana led me away. I glanced over my shoulder at him, giving him an apologetic look, but I was met with his grinning face instead as he flashed me a hand sign that was a closed fist with his thumb pointing upwards. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but his smile encouraged me, and I turned back to Santana, who still had a scowl on her face.

She stopped suddenly in a clear space on the dance floor, and, satisfied with our distance from Puck, turned to me. She slid her arm sensually around my waist, pulling me closer to her so there were only a few inches between us, and lifted our still-joined hands in the air at our side, near our shoulders.

Her gaze softened as her eyes darted over my face, and I wanted to kiss her so badly, it hurt. But I bit my lip again to stifle the urge, and she began swaying her body, guiding me into the movement as well.

"Are we _dancing_?" I asked incredulously, enjoying the way our bodies moved together to the rhythm of the human music blaring in the gymnasium. I tried not to think of the way her hand felt on my waist.

She nodded. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I promised I'd be more understanding, and I keep fucking up. It's just that, I get so jealous when I think about you and _Puck_-"

"He likes it," I shrugged. "I think he does it on purpose to get you riled up."

At that information, Santana looked absolutely livid, but I reached my left hand, which had been resting on her shoulder, up to cup her cheek, letting my thumb stroke over the softness of her skin. She instantly calmed and smiled at me.

"This is nice," she sighed.

I nodded, and was surprised when she moved even closer, tightening her grip on me and resting her forehead against my shoulder, her face buried in my neck. I felt my breath catch in my throat at the feel of her warm lips against my neck, even though they were only resting there and not deliberately pressed there in a kiss. I closed my eyes and felt her against me, and everything else drifted away.

We continued to sway for a few minutes until the song ended, and the spell I had fallen under broke. I realized with slight disappointment that we weren't, in fact, in a grassy meadow, but in a room filled with human youths. She lifted her head up and looked at me, and her eyes did that thing where she seemed as if she wanted to kiss me.

This time, though, her brown eyes were darker, with a shade of something I had seen before but couldn't name. She licked her lips, and the sight made me shiver, and feel funny, and my heart skipped a beat in my chest.

We stood there staring at each other for long moments, and then she shook her head slowly. "Let's go sit down."

I followed her back to our seats- I'm reasonably sure that with the look she was giving me, I'd follow her anywhere- and then told her that I needed to re-transform.

She nodded and asked if I wanted company, but I told her I knew where the restrooms were and I'd be back in five minutes. My transformation went without any problems, but on the way back to Santana's table I was approached by a young male human I did not recognize.

"Good evenin,'" he said, nodding his head towards me. (At least, that's what I think he said. He was speaking a dialect of human English that the translator chip that had been implanted in my head was unfamiliar with.)

"Hello," I responded carefully. It took a moment to figure out what he was saying, so all of my responses came out after a long pause.

"Are y'enjoyin' the dance?"

"…Yes."

"I don't suppose ya'd want to dance?"

"With you?" I asked, uncertain if that's what he meant.

He looked over his shoulder comically, then looked back at me. "I _am_ the one askin' ya, aren't I?"

"…Yes."

"Yes, ya want to dance, or yes, I'm the one askin'?"

"I'm not fully sure of what you're saying, so I'm not entirely sure what my answer is."

"Oh." He paused. "Me name's Rory," he offered, like that might help me understand him better.

"Let's dance," I said suddenly, just to end the awkward conversation. The sooner he left, the sooner I could get back to Santana's table.

I let Rory lead me out onto the floor, and he slid his arms around my waist. It didn't feel nearly as good as when Santana did it- in fact, it didn't feel good at all. He must've noticed my sour expression, because he frowned.

"Are ya'llright?" he asked, concern laced in his voice.

"What?" I asked.

He smiled. "I seent ya sittin over there with Sam and th'others," he told me, and I did what I had become quite good at- smiling politely and nodding. "I have a message for yas, from Sugar Motta."

My interest suddenly doubled once he mentioned Sugar's name, and I listened intently, hoping my translator chip would pick up everything he said properly.

"Says she wants to meet yas, at the mansion," he said. "Tomorrow morning, if ya can manage it. It's extremely important."

I nodded slowly, processing his words. "Okay," I said. "I'll let Sam and the others know."

He smiled, and I realized the song we had been dancing to was coming to an end. "Thank you for the dance, Brittany," he said.

"Wait- how did you know my name?" I asked, confused.

He smiled at me.

I felt very uneasy all of a sudden.

Especially when I turned, and caught Santana's dark eyes staring at me from across the room.

* * *

I went home with Santana soon after that. Kurt reassured me that he didn't mind that I didn't return home with him, because I was Santana's _date_, not his. I thanked him for everything he'd done, and after I told Sam about Rory's message, we said our goodbyes and I followed Santana to her car. She drove us home in silence, avoiding my eyes.

I chewed my lip nervously. I'm not sure where I developed the habit, but it stuck, and I turned over everything that she could possibly ask me about in my mind.

Would I tell her? She'd made it clear she wanted to know me, and any refusal on my part to tell her what she wanted to know was another wall going up between us, and we had just spent all week clearing the space.

I wanted to tell her so badly. I wanted her to know me. No one had ever known _me_, and the idea that someone wanted to made me feel incredible- made me feel like I was finally worth something.

_But the law- _I reminded myself.

The law forbade it.

_War-Prince Willi broke the law, _I reasoned.

Well, he was also in much better standing with the Council than I was. He could get away with doing things like breaking laws. Then again, I was already despised by most of the Council and the military- what would it matter if I broke the law?

If I was being honest with myself, it wasn't the law that was holding me back from telling her- it was my own shame.

What if she rejected me?

I peeked at Santana, who was focused on driving. She had a serious expression on her face, and the effect of the lights that flashed over her tan skin as we passed them took my breath away.

Could I trust her? Could I tell her everything?

Could I let her know me?

_I could be in love with her._

That thought frightened me most of all- when you realize something about yourself that you're ashamed of, you don't want to share that something with another person-

_Especially_ if you might be in love with them.

* * *

"You look incredible," Santana told me, finally breaking the silence as we reached her bedroom and she closed the door. I had long since taken off my shoes- they were in Santana's car.

"You said that already," I said. I stood awkwardly in my dress, and she moved forward to help me unzip it, slowly. I swallowed as her fingers touched my side. I was not embarrassed of the nakedness of my human form, but after everything I'd read, the gravity of the situation did not escape me, and I felt my cheeks heating up.

"You can, uh, use the bathroom if you want," Santana said, lowering her gaze to the floor as she stepped back, away from me.

"Thank you," I said, but I carefully pulled my dress up over my head, leaving me partially naked. I laid the dress on the back of Santana's chair and bent to retrieve some clothes from her dresser, (which is a large wooden box where humans keep their clothes. It contains smaller trays that slide out from the front of it to help organize them.) pulling out a shirt and shorts- what I usually wore when I spent time at her house.

As I slipped them on, I was overwhelmed with her scent, and I closed my eyes for a brief moment, feeling my heart thumping wildly again in reaction to it. My eyes snapped open as I felt her fingers on my bare arm.

"Brittany," she started, "Thank you for forgiving me."

I gave her a small smile. The urge to kiss her was driving me insane, and this time, since we were in private, I deduced that there was no reason why I shouldn't, and I leaned forward-

"Brittany," she said seriously as my lips connected with her cheek. It took me a moment to realize she had turned her head.

I pulled back, hurt. Why would she deny me? I _knew_ she wanted it, she had been gazing at my lips all night, and Puck had informed me that was a sure sign that a girl wanted to be kissed. Had I misread her?

"You don't-" I started, but I couldn't even finish the thought, I was so stung by rejection. I stared at the floor, wondering how I had misjudged her so badly, when she cupped my cheek, lifting my head up.

"I _do_," she reassured, and her brown eyes seemed genuine, with a hint of sadness. She slid her hand that was on my cheek down and held my hand, and my stomach did that jumpy thing. "I'm just unsure of how you feel about _me_, Britt." She paused, then added, "How did you feel about that guy you danced with?"

I shrugged. "He stepped on my feet."

She smiled wryly. "Okay, other than his dancing skills."

"He was nice," I said honestly.

"But did you feel- I don't know, _attracted_ to him?" she pressed. She looked nervously at me.

I grinned at her, and wiggled my eyebrows in an attempt to ease her worry. "You mean, did I want to _procreate_ with him?"

She laughed, the sound making my heart flutter. "Yeah."

"No, San. I've only ever felt those feelings around _you_," I blurted, then lowered my eyes. I was unsure if my response was okay to say, but her eyes softened and her thumb stroked circles on the back of my hand. I swallowed at the feeling.

She still looked uncertain, so she continued. "But, like- is it that body? Do you still feel them as an Andalite?" She scanned her eyes over me, and said, "I'm just not sure if it's the _form_, or if it's… _you_."

"Which do you want it to be?" I asked in a shaky whisper. She looked up into my eyes.

"I don't know," she admitted, her voice just as unsteady as mine.

I brought her hand up and placed it on my chest, over my heart, pressing it there firmly, so she could feel the way my heart pounded at her touch. Then, not breaking her gaze, I began to change.

My eyes never left hers as I changed, though eventually, her gaze shifted to her hand, which stayed on my chest throughout my transformation. When I was fully Andalite, and at least a foot taller than her, I listened for the pounding of my hearts- all of them were in sync. And even though the one in my chest as an Andalite was smaller than the one in my chest as a human, due to the fact that I had four of them, it was _still pounding_, and she could still feel it.

Santana looked up at me after a moment, and our eyes locked. Her brown eyes held that dark, glazed look, and she licked her lips.

"Change back to human," she murmured quietly.

_[Why?]_

She stepped closer to me, so that I could feel the warmth of her skin on my fur as it radiated off of her. "Because I want to kiss you, and you have no mouth."

I smiled at her with my eyes, and grasped her hand that wasn't on my chest, lifting it up above her head to my face. _[This is the Andalite equivalent,] _I told her. I slowly guided her fingers down my face, shivering at the tingling in my skin that the gesture evoked.

She smiled and stroked my face again, cupping it fully, and I shut my eyes and concentrated on my human form. It was the fastest change I had ever done, less than 3 seconds. Santana opened her mouth to comment but I didn't let her.

"Wo-"

I crashed my lips into hers, wrapping my arms around her tightly. She made a noise in my mouth, but threw her arms around my neck, tangling her fingers in my hair and kissing me back intensely.

I was struggling for air but I couldn't stop, not when I'd spent a whole human week without her. I _needed_ her.

She groaned in my mouth, and I felt my human instincts taking over. I felt the overpowering urge to pick her up and slam her to the bed and continue where we had left off last time, but somehow I withheld my desire, growling as I let her tongue invade my mouth. She tugged on my hair gently, pressing her whole body against me, and gripped my shoulder so hard I felt her fingers digging into my skin.

After long moments we finally put a tiny amount of space between us, gasping- but our lips still brushed against each other's. She rested her forehead on mine and I smiled at the familiar gesture.

She took a few deep breaths, and reached to cup my face. "This is weird for me, you know," she admitted in a soft voice. "I mean, you're an alien. And it's even harder because I don't know anything about you."

I swallowed nervously, afraid of where she was going. I couldn't take another rejection, I _couldn't_. "San…"

She turned her head and kissed along my jaw gently, making me tense at the feel of her moist lips brushing along the edge of it. "You can trust me, Brittany," she whispered against my skin, and I shook involuntarily with desire. Desire for her, desire to give her what she _wanted_- She gripped my hand and brought it to her lips, kissing my knuckles one by one. The sight made my heart clench painfully, and I felt as if I might cry.

"I _do_ trust you," I said, my voice wavering, betraying me. "I'm just so _scared_."

"What're you scared of?" she asked, breathing against my knuckles as she kissed them all over again. My breathing hadn't returned to normal- in fact, it was getting more rapid. I couldn't catch my breath. I looked into her eyes.

"I just- San, I- I don't want to _lose_ you," I choked out finally. I felt the tears spring to my eyes, and her expression turned sad, understanding.

"You won't, B," she promised fervently. She kissed me, softly, then again, and again, until we had worked back up into an inferno of kisses, and she was clutching me tightly again, willing herself to calm down. She gently steered me to her bed, and we crawled onto it together. Once I was lying down she immediately curled into me, leaning over me and staring into my eyes with an unreadable, intense expression. Her hand pressed against my chest again, her nose brushing against mine.

"Just, please- be honest with me," she begged in a whisper, and I felt my heart ache. "I don't expect some big confession from you, all right? Just- _try_- to answer my questions when I ask them. Can you do that for me, Britt?"

I calmed considerably at her words. "Okay," I said, pulling her hand up to kiss her palm.

She snuggled up against me, content, playing with my hair and stroking lazy circles on my shoulder. We laid there and gazed at each other, not really speaking, for long moments- until she yawned, and moved to rest her head on my chest, draping her body across mine.

"San," I breathed. "I can't-"

"Just stay until I fall asleep," she pleaded. "Please, B…"

I didn't answer, just ran my fingers through her dark, smooth hair, contemplating our night together, and how full my heart felt- how happy she made me.

Of all the planets I'd been on, and all the species I'd been, I had never felt tempted to stay in any form for longer than the allotted two hours. But lying there, with Santana against me, breathing peacefully, made me consider it for the first time, and it was a dangerous idea that grew in my mind.

It would be so easy to just close my eyes and forget about the time, forget about the law, forget about the war with the Yeerks. But I knew just forgetting about the Yeerks didn't make them disappear- and eventually they would spread across the entire planet of Earth. No human would be safe.

And I'd have no way to protect Santana.

And that thought did not rest easy within my mind.

So despite every fiber in my being protesting, I carefully and quietly maneuvered myself out of Santana's warm embrace, slipped out of bed, and flew out into the unappealing, chilly night.

* * *

**I swear I had this chapter planned and written before last night's episode. We are on Brittany overload this week (is there such a thing?) between Glee and this, hahaha.**

**Next chapter we will be back to Santana's normal POV, and we'll start learning some more interesting things about Brittany. Which, by the way, I'll be updating at the usual time again on _Monday,_ so you don't even have to wait that long!**

**So see you then, folks! Review if you feel like it! :)**


	10. Johnny Lawrence

**Monday, Monday... Can't trust that day...**

**So funny story, my laptop's hard drive decided to try me yesterday. So I bought a new laptop. Which is why this chapter is like, a couple hours later than usual. I spent time that I would've spent writing transferring files to my new laptop. I didn't lose anything, though, so that's extremely fortunate. :D**

**Okay well, you didn't come here to read about my laptop woes, but if you did, thanks for caring. :')**

**Also, thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and all that jazz. It means a lot that you enjoy the story. With the exception of my laptop dying, I feel like I had a pretty productive week. **

**And there I go, talking about boring crap. Okay, well, enjoy!**

* * *

I woke up Saturday morning to Brittany's lips on mine. I smiled into the kiss, and lazily opened my eyes to meet her blue ones, sparkling with adoration. It made my heart hammer in my chest, and I felt incredibly warm all the way down to my toes. She was standing next to my bed leaning over me, and her warm fingers stroked through my disheveled hair, brushing strands from my face. She moved her head to kiss my cheek, then my forehead, then my nose, and I giggled slightly as she planted warm, tender kisses all over my face.

"Mm, I could wake up like this every morning," I sighed, letting my eyes fall shut briefly to relish in the feel of her affection. Yep, it's true- I was turning into a marshmallow. Brittany's eyes shone with an emotion I couldn't quite place, and she looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she bit her lip. I reached for her, enveloping her in my arms and tugging her down onto the bed with me. I pulled her close, readjusting us until we were completely wrapped up in each other and she had her head tucked into my neck. "How long have you been here?" I asked softly as I stroked her back.

She shivered slightly and shifted closer. "Not long."

I yawned, turning my head into my own shoulder to cover my mouth, since both my hands were occupied with touching her. "It's so early." I leaned my head against hers and played with the hair at the base of her neck.

"We have to m- meet Sam and the others- to go to Motta's Mansion," she reminded, squirming slightly at my touch. She was so warm, and I wanted to just stay in bed with her all day.

I squinted at the clock. "But my alarm hasn't even gone off yet."

"Sorry," she mumbled. Her breath on my neck sent a chill down my spine, so I snuggled closer to her, closing my eyes.

"Don't be… Let's just lie here for a moment."

She hummed in acknowledgement, and gently reached up to run her fingers through my hair, her fingers stroking my scalp. The feeling made me sigh and hold her more tightly, and I felt a little pathetic at how I melted at her touch. Just the slightest contact from her and I was a puddle.

I didn't realize I had drifted off to sleep until my phone began beeping obnoxiously at me. I had never hated the thing more. I quickly shut it off but didn't bother to unplug it. I couldn't transform with a phone, anyways, which meant I was leaving it at home most of the time. The only important people who needed to contact me were the _Transformers,_ anyway. Ugh, can't believe we're still calling ourselves that.

I got up reluctantly out of Brittany's warm embrace and began to get dressed in my _Transformers_ outfit, noticing that Brittany's eyes followed me with burning interest. It made me relieved to know she still wanted me, but at the same time a little self-conscious- we hadn't exactly talked about anything last night, and I had no idea where we stood, but I decided I didn't mind that we didn't have a label so much. And to be honest I didn't think she'd really understand or care if we did, either.

"Are you hungry?" I asked as I tied my hair up into a low, loose ponytail, gesturing for her to follow me downstairs to the kitchen. She did, warily, descending the stairs with caution, as if she felt she might teeter over at any moment. I watched her in amusement, smiling to myself at the look of concentration on her face.

"I ate before I came over," she told me once she stepped safely onto the floor.

"How exactly do you eat with no mouth, Britt?" I asked over my shoulder as I entered the kitchen and opened the fridge, scanning for something light and quick.

It was a test to see if she would keep her promise to me last night, her promise to try and answer my questions. I asked her nonchalantly to put her at ease, to give her the freedom to decide whether she wanted to answer or not, though I hoped she would follow through.

She didn't even hesitate. "Through my hooves when I run," she explained, lifting her bare feet to show me, even though they were definitely not hooves. "The grasses and any small insects are crushed, and I absorb the freed nutrients through the bottom of my hooves."

I blinked at her. "So like, if you stepped in shit-"

"It would not matter, as my hooves do not taste, but I can close the connection as I wish," she said with a wry smirk.

"Cool," I said as I moved over to the pantry. "You sure you don't want anything? I've got Pop Tarts."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Oh, it is. Sometimes they get stuck in the toaster."

* * *

We met Sam and the others at the corn field soon after. None of them looked surprised to see Brittany and I arriving together. It made me feel good that they were all so accepting of us. As much as I complained, I really had grown to care about them.

For once, Sam didn't go over the plan a billion times- probably because there wasn't one, other than "fly to the mansion." I was glad, because I was tired, and cranky, and I couldn't stop yawning, and I definitely didn't want to deal with listening to him talk for an hour about the same things.

We transformed to our various bird forms and flew out to the mansion, realizing when we got there that we didn't really know how to get in contact with Sugar without busting the place up.

_[It's nice to see her remodeling,] _I pointed out.

_[Yeah, I'm sure it had _nothing_ to do with us completely smashing up her house,] _Mercedes muttered.

_[Maybe she just needed an excuse to splurge on redecoration,] _Puck said.

_[And if I recall correctly, Miss Elephant, _you_ did the majority of that smashing,] _I teased.

She stayed silent after that and we circled above the property a few times, observing the reconstruction and looking for another way in. But the only way in seemed to be the front gate, which was how we got in last time.

_[Oh, look! There's our good friend, Ken,] _I said with fake enthusiasm.

_[Looks like we're going to be going in through the front gate,]_ Sam said with a resigned sigh. _[Santana, you and me again.]_

_[The words I've been longing to hear, Sammy.]_

* * *

Ken was not very happy to see us.

He glared as we approached him, and I gave him a jaunty wave and large smile just to piss him off further.

"Well, hello, good friend!" I said cheerily. Sam smacked his forehead subtly. "It's so good to see you again. It's not every day we encounter such a Champion for Nature's Rights, and to have the fortune to run into you _twice_-"

"Miss Motta is expecting you," he growled, pointing us towards the gate, where that weird kid Brittany danced with was standing.

"Why, thank you, kind sir! We are forever in your debt. Carry on, friend!"

"You're insane, you know that?" Sam muttered.

"I'm _hilarious_," I corrected. "Besides, I need something to keep myself entertained."

"Hullo," the kid said as we ambled towards him. I stared him down hard. I was pretty sure that scrawny kid didn't stand a chance against me in any capacity, in any lifetime, but that didn't mean I was going to be friendly with him. He needed to understand that he had _zero_ chance with Brittany. "Sugar's been waitin' for ya."

"Lead the way," Sam said, giving him a reassuring smile. Probably to make up for the death glare I was sending him.

He led us down a winding path, back towards the building that was under construction, the one we had smashed up the last time. Once we reached it, we went around to the back of the building, to a secret door, which he activated by pressing a panel.

"Fancy," I mumbled to Sam. Sam nodded in agreement as the door slid open, and we followed Sugar's Henchman inside.

A thought occurred to me. "I know we trust her and everything, but do you want me to transform, just in case?"

"Yes, and no," Sam said in a quiet tone as we moved through the house. "Yes, because I'd love to be able to communicate with the others, but no, because I don't want to give Sugar the wrong impression."

"Oh, you won't give me the wrong impression," Sugar said, seemingly appearing from nowhere, and I openly cringed at the sound of her voice. It was even worse than I remembered!

"That will be all, Rory," she said, shooing our escort away with her hand. He turned and left, and Sugar continued. "In fact, I'm flattered that you _want_ to. Go on- Santana, right? Change into the cheetah, that's my favorite. I love the spots."

Something about the way she used my name made me feel uneasy. Was she threatening me?

Though I felt a trickle of dread run down my spine at the fact that she _knew_ me, I also felt anger that she thought she could threaten me. I let that anger carry through my transformation until I was my usual cheetah, standing next to Sam proudly, my tail swishing in agitation.

_[We're inside,] _I told Kurt and the others.

_[Everything's okay?] _he asked.

_[Yeah, Sam and I are with Sugar right now. Stand by for more instructions, over.]_

"Thanks for coming on such short notice," Sugar said with a flourish of her hand, which was decorated with at least a million bangles. The jangling irked the cheetah in my head. I followed the movement of the bracelets like I was stalking a mouse, and fantasized about all the ways I could tear them off her wrist. With my teeth.

"Rory said it was important," Sam said softly, offering Sugar a disarming smile.

"And it _is_ important. But first, I wanted to congratulate you on the way you handled the convention," she smirked. "Nicely done."

_[Are you joking?] _I asked, narrowing my feline eyes.

"Oh, no," she said, waving her hand again. This time I wanted to snatch the bangles off her wrist and throw them at her. I imagined it- I'd probably have to change back to human before I could. "I genuinely _mean_ that. You managed to completely disrupt the convention without drawing attention to Burt, and Beiste managed to escape to the Capitol to get help, armed with the knowledge you gave her, correct?"

"It did work out favorably," Sam admitted. "Though messy. We were lucky."

"It only matters if you achieved your goals in the end," Sugar reassured haughtily. "It doesn't matter how you _got_ there."

_Easy for a Yeerk to say_, I thought bitterly. _Do the ends truly justify the means?_

"So now the Governor is currently gathering up the reinforcements needed to take back your fair city, and Kurt's dad is out of harm's way. Everyone wins, right?"

_[I'm not sure what you're getting at,] _I cut in harshly. _[What do you want?]_

"I'm just reminding you about our deal," Sugar said with an indifferent shrug.

_[Trust me, we don't have amnesia,] _I retorted.

"Santana," Sam warned.

Sugar looked at me. Like, _really_ looked at me. She smiled a slow, creepy smile and I felt extremely uncomfortable. "So, you and the Andalite, huh?"

My stomach tensed and my tail and ears twitched. _[What?] _I croaked. I definitely wasn't expecting that. Who did this bitch think she was?

"I think it's _darling_, really," Sugar continued on smoothly, airily. "I'm in your corner. Perhaps someday-"

_[Here's an idea, Richie Bitch: why don't you focus on the important shit you had to tell us, instead of wasting our precious time talking about fucking nonsense?] _I snapped.

Sugar looked baffled, but my outburst only made her hesitate for a moment. "Very well, then. Since you _obviously_ have much better things to do than keep my company," she spat, sounding slightly hurt, and I remembered what she said about being a social outcast. I almost felt bad for a fraction of a second.

Almost.

"Someone has the cube."

"What cube?" Sam asked.

"The transforming cube, _the blue cube_, honestly, does your brain spend all of its time powering that humongous mouth of yours? What other cube _is_ there?" she asked sarcastically. She paused. "Sorry, Asperger's."

I laughed internally in disbelief. First at the fact that someone other than me made a mouth joke about Sam. Second at the fact that it was Sugar and I actually almost thought the joke was funny.

_[Someone has it?] _I clarified, trying to continue the conversation. I really didn't want to be there any longer than was absolutely necessary.

"That's what I just said," Sugar said, bored. "Some human kid found it, I guess. Although we all thought it had been destroyed along with that Andalite's ship."

"The cube wasn't destroyed," Sam stated, like he was just realizing how dangerous that could be for the first time.

"Do you people listen? I just said it wasn't destroyed," Sugar huffed. "How do you ever manage to gather any information?"

_[Okay, so do you know who has the cube?] _I asked, getting a little sick and tired of Sugar's attitude. God, she should talk- getting any information from her was like pulling teeth.

"Yeah. He's a young male human. Tall, brown hair, pale. He goes to an all boys' school, do you know where any of those are?"

_[I bet Kurt knows,] _I muttered.

Sugar smiled. "Of course. His name is Sebastian. The Yeerks are close to closing in on him- they are only waiting to confirm he has the cube before they move in. They may strike tomorrow, you know how impatient Sue is. You're going to have to act fast. And that's all I know."

* * *

"Dalton Academy," Kurt supplied. "That's the only all-male school in the region."

"I knew you'd know," I said, nodding my head confidently.

It was later, around noon, and we were back at our usual spot, discussing what Sugar had told us, and what would undoubtedly be our next mission.

"We've gotta get the cube before the Yeerks do, no question," Puck said firmly.

"I agree- think of all the damage the Yeerks could do if they had the power to transform, as we do," Mercedes pointed out.

"Oh, God, we're such pains in the asses to them," I groaned. "Can you imagine fighting ten or twenty different animals with conniving little alien slugs controlling them? Total nightmare."

"Think of all the good it would do _us,_ though," Kurt mentioned. "We could build an army of Transformers. We really would be the X-Men."

"Oh, God, then I'd have to put up with _more_ of you."

"So this is top priority, no question," Sam said seriously, steering us back on track. "We can't let anything stop us from getting the cube, it's too dangerous to let fall into Yeerk hands."

"So what's the plan, Optimus Primal?" I asked.

Puck gave me a shocked look at the reference. "No way!"

I shrugged.

Sam smiled, his eyes getting a misty look for a moment from my reference before he grounded himself. "Kurt, do you know anything about Dalton Academy?"

Kurt shrugged. "No, but that's nothing a little spying can't fix."

"Okay, so we go and scope it out," Mercedes said. "We fly out there-"

"It's Saturday," I said flatly. "No school."

"Good point."

"Well there's gotta be a hang out near the school that we can check out. Then we can ask around, someone's gotta know him. Dalton's a small school, and since it's private, everyone's gotta be pretty familiar with everybody else," Kurt reasoned.

"I'm down with that plan," Puck said. "Let's do this shit."

* * *

It turns out that there was a coffee shop near Dalton Academy that just so happened to be teeming with boys that looked like they were high-school-aged. Apparently it was the place to be- if you went to Dalton.

_[Well, since they're all obviously gay, Kurt, that means it's up to you. You're the only one who speaks their secret gay language,]_ I said.

_[Says the girl who's knocking off a piece of another girl,] _Mercedes muttered.

I was shocked into silence for a moment. Wheezy tried to call _me_ out? The audacity! If I wasn't so completely amused I would've been spitting a million insults at her.

_[Wanky,] _Brittany deadpanned, and I couldn't help smiling internally at her attempt at my usual joke.

_[I guess it would be best if I _did_ do the talking, though; something like this takes finesse,]_ Kurt reasoned. _[Although I'm sure not _all_ of them are gay; a little female help would be nice, so-]_

_[Oh, fuck that,] _I scoffed. _[There's no way I'm-]_

_[-Brittany, would you accompany me?] _Kurt finished, completely ignoring me.

_ [I'd be honored to,] _Brittany said sweetly.

_[I meant, there's no way I'm _not_ going,]_ I said.

Why was I so whipped?

* * *

"Hello, gays- we mean you no harm," I said as we approached a table of guys sitting outside the coffee shop. They all looked up at me with confused expressions, and Kurt forced a laugh.

"Ha ha ha! What Santana means is that we're looking for a friend of ours!" he covered with a patronizing smile. "Sebastian- do any of you know him?"

They all stared at us like we were from another planet. And okay, one of us actually _was_ from another planet. Brittany, Kurt and I were standing before them, barefoot, and with the exception of Brittany, wearing nothing but skintight spandex outfits. Brittany was wearing white pants and an oversized green striped shirt that fell off of one of her shoulders. Even dressed as she was, she still looked flawless, and I felt the slow burn in my body that was a direct result of being in close proximity to her. I tried to ignore it.

"I do," some fat kid at the next table over said. We turned to look at him, and he nodded. "Yeah, I know Sebastian."

"Do you know where we might find him?" Kurt asked. "We- uh-"

"-_Lost_ something, something _important_, and we think he might have found it," I said quickly. The fat kid blinked but didn't question our story.

"He usually hangs out at this club called _Scandals_-" I shot a smirk to Kurt that said _I told you they were all gay _and he rolled his eyes and sighed, "on Saturdays. So you'll probably be able to find him there tonight," Fat Kid was saying.

"_Scandals_? The kid is in high school," I mumbled.

"What is it that is so scandalous?" Brittany wondered. I smiled at her and reached out to squeeze her pinky.

"Thank you so much for your help," Kurt said genuinely.

Fat Kid nodded before going back to his frappiccino or whatever, which he looked like he could use a lot less of. I decided to be nice and withhold that little gem of wisdom in lieu of making a quick exit. The three of us made our way back behind the building before transforming and re-joining the others in the sky.

_[So I guess we're making a trip to _Scandals_ tonight,] _Sam said.

_[Finally, somewhere the Puckasaurus can scope out some chicks!]_ You'll never guess who said that. No, really. Guess.

_[I hate to destroy all your hopes and dreams to finally bed a woman who isn't drugged, Puck,]_ I said sweetly, _[But _Scandals_ is a _gay bar_.]_

_[Oh, hell naw,] _Mercedes grumbled. _[I got surveillance on this one. I don't mess with no bars.]_

_[I'll back you up, Mercedes,] _Sam said. _[You three are it on this mission.]_

_[Why, because we're-] _I stopped myself. I almost admitted it out loud. _[-the prettiest_ girls_ in the group?]_ I finished. I inwardly cringed- I didn't feel so strong about my joke that time.

_[Satan, your wit just _slays_ me,] _Kurt said.

_[Too bad it can't _actually_ slay you,] _I muttered.

* * *

It was ten o'clock.

And we were at _Scandals_.

Well, actually, _I_ was at _Scandals_, as my normal self, and Brittany and Kurt were currently in stealth mode, tucked away into my purse. Brittany was her usual cricket and Kurt was some sort of beetle (that looked an awful lot like a cockroach, but he swore up and down that it wasn't because if it _was_ there was no way he was getting in my purse) and I was dressed to kill in heels and a tight, blue-striped dress.

It turns out that I was the only one out of the three of us that had a fake ID. Brittany didn't have one for obvious reasons- I didn't expect her to- but Kurt? Why didn't _he_ have one? No wonder he was so pathetic. I knew Puck had one, but he had already volunteered to sit this mission out- which is why I ended up strolling casually up to the doorman, swaying my hips for good measure. I presented my fake ID and the cover charge to him and smiled my best winning smile.

"Well, hello-" he paused to glance at my ID, "Naya. Welcome to _Scandals_." He gave me a leer and licked his lips, and I resisted the three very different urges I had to either throw up, roll my eyes, or just straight up kick him in the nuts. I briefly considered indulging in all three; instead, I gave the doorman a smirk and raised my eyebrow seductively as he moved to let me in. Once past the door, someone else wrapped a paper wristband around my wrist, signifying I was old enough to drink, and I moved deeper into the building.

It was dark inside the club, except for the wildly flashing strobe lights, and for whatever reason, all clubs somehow thought it was a stellar idea to create fog to add to the mystery- _Scandals_ was no different. I couldn't withhold my eye roll that time. There was so much fog swirling around that I briefly speculated that if anyone in the room had asthma they were probably dead.

_[Santana,]_ Brittany suddenly said guiltily_, [I believe I have ruined a small cosmetic tube of yours, I think it is called-]_

_[Brittany ate lipstick,]_ Kurt reported.

_Dafuq? How even..?_ I cringed at the thought. I couldn't really answer them, since the pulsing music from the speakers would drown out any chance that they would actually hear me, and instead listened to their conversation as I silently moved my way to the back of the club, towards the bathrooms.

_[It just seemed so appetizing,]_ Brittany explained sadly. _[The bright color and the smell reminded me of the human candy called Dots that I enjoy, and I was overwhelmed by my memory of the taste and couldn't resist my curiosity.]_

I smiled despite myself, finally reaching the bathroom and pushing my way inside.

_[Brittany, it smells nothing _like_ Dots,]_ Kurt argued.

_[Does your form even _have_ a sense of smell?]_

Huh. I wondered that myself.

_[Does_ yours?]

There were a few girls in the bathroom, but they scurried out at my pointed glare. I looked around- the place was a dump. The wooden stall doors were cracked and covered in graffiti, the sinks were stained brown and chipped, and I couldn't really tell if the tile was supposed to be the color of puke, or if it had just seen so much of it that it had taken on its pigment. It was literally the sleaziest bathroom I had ever seen. Ugh.

I reached carefully into my purse and fished around until I found Kurt- then, ignoring how utterly creeped out I was at the fact that I was searching for a bug in my purse, I picked him up and placed him in a stall.

_[I take it that's my cue to change,]_ he said as I set him gently on the floor. He began to transform carefully and I moved into the stall next to him and set Brittany down, who began her own transformation at a much more rapid, smooth pace. I stepped out of the stall and checked myself out in the mirror, digging into my purse to inspect my lipstick. The cap of the tube was slightly ajar and part of the lipstick was definitely chewed up. How had Brittany even _done_ that? Did crickets even have mouths?

I frowned slightly at the ruined lipstick and looked up when I noticed Brittany's stall opening seconds later. She had finished before Kurt- because she's a pro- and when she stepped out I'm pretty sure I forgot how to breathe.

"Uh. Wow," I said, turning from the mirror to look her over. She was dressed in the tiniest shorts that ever existed, exposing her long, toned legs. She had on a top that bared her midriff, and that's… all I got. I really didn't notice anything else that she was wearing. My eyes didn't get past her abs and her legs.

She giggled as she noticed me staring, reaching out flirtatiously to lift my chin so my eyes met her blue ones. I felt my cheeks warming up and was glad that she couldn't see my blush. She leaned forward to kiss me swiftly, and I moaned as her tongue darted out to taste my lips.

"It _so does_ taste like Dots," she breathed as she pulled back, her eyes half closed in ecstasy. My mind went blank. She licked her lips and my eyes followed the path of her pink, velvet tongue, my whole body throbbing in response. Shit. Okay. So going to a club with Brittany was probably not the smartest idea when I had to stay focused on a mission. Sue me.

"I look _ridiculous_," Kurt hissed suddenly as he banged out of his stall, looking awkward as hell. He was completely naked except for a tight pair of sparkling, golden shorts. I barked out a laugh at the absurdity.

"Where's your clothes?" I asked, cringing. The sight of Kurt's pale skin had definitely killed my arousal. Which, I guess in a weird way, was kind of a good thing.

"I don't know!" he said, frustrated. "I was trying to practice transforming with them, like Brittany does, but _this_," he gestured wildly to the tiny shorts, "is all that came through!"

I would've laughed again if I wasn't so utterly horrified at the sight of his pale, horribly un-toned body. "I'm not sure what to tell you," I said slowly. "I guess you'll just have to make the most of it."

"Make the most of it?" he repeated in a shriek. "You can't possibly mean for me to go out there looking like this!"

I opened my mouth to respond, but just then, a girl stumbled into the bathroom, glanced at Kurt, and proceeded past him into the stall next to him, like seeing a gay guy in the girl's bathroom was a natural occurrence.

I smirked. "Well, we _are_ at a gay bar. I'm sure you're not the most eccentrically dressed guy out there."

"Probably the palest, though," Brittany nodded seriously.

Kurt looked appalled.

* * *

"Try it," I urged as I handed my drink to Brittany. It was something with tequila in it, I don't remember, I had just told the bartender to make something, because there was no way I was going to make it through without _something_.

Brittany took the glass and held it tentatively. She lifted it up to her face and smelled it, making me laugh at the exaggerated way she crinkled her nose. "What is it?" she asked. "I got into trouble one time because I drank gasoline-"

"It's alcohol," I explained. I processed what she had just said. "And, gross. Although I guess if you can survive the taste of gasoline, this should be fine." I shrugged.

"Alcohol?" she said curiously, her interest obviously piqued. She brought the cup to her lips and drank deeply. "It's sweet."

I gave her an encouraging nod and turned to scan the crowd of dancing bodies, looking for that kid (what was his name? Seth?) or Kurt. Of course, it was hard to see anything with all the _mysterious_ _fog_ swirling around, and when my gaze landed back on Brittany I realized she was holding an _empty_ glass.

"Britt!" I exclaimed, taking the glass from her. I looked into it, confirming that it was empty. "You drank it _all_?"

She nodded, a lazy smile stretching its way across her face. "It allllllll."

I took a deep breath and let it out. "It's going to be an interesting night."

Just then, Kurt sidled up to us, hunched over, keeping his hands in front of his junk. "I feel like a piece of meat," he hissed. Several guys stood a few feet away, leering at him and giving him a few catcalls. He turned over his shoulder and glared at them, and they dispersed. "We need to find Sebastian and get the hell out of here!"

"I don't know, Lady, I'm actually rather enjoying seeing you like this, though not so much the actual _seeing_ part of it," I said with a grin.

"I hate you," Kurt retorted before turning away and disappearing into the fog- rather mysteriously, I might add.

I turned to Brittany. "He's right, though. We need to find this kid and skedaddle, we're running out of time. We'll have better luck trying to find him out on the dance floor," I told her. "You up for it?"

Brittany hiccupped, and then looked completely shocked at the sound. "What just happened?!" she asked wildly, grabbing at her own throat.

I laughed at her terrified expression. "You drank too fast, is all- don't worry, it's completely normal, you just need to burp."

"_What_?" she asked, looking at me pleadingly for help.

I leaned forward to give her a reassuring kiss, gently pulling her hand away from her throat and entwining our fingers. "You'll know when it happens," I told her. "But for now, let's go dance."

I led the way onto the dance floor, and after weaving through several couples who were pretty much dry-humping each other, I spotted a tall guy who looked way too young to be at the club. He was lanky and matched the description that Sugar had given us. And his outfit screamed 'twink.'

"Are you sure these humans are just _dancing_?" Brittany asked in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning in close to me, as if she was concerned about being overheard. "I'm certain several of them are actually having sexual intercour-"

"I think that's him," I interrupted, nodding my head towards Twink, who was standing at the edge of the dance floor near another boy, engaged in animated conversation.

Brittany followed my gaze and nodded, her head wobbling a little more than usual. "He looks very young. Ung."

As if he sensed we were talking about him, Twink looked over at me and met my gaze, and I swallowed and turned to Brittany. "We look suspicious. Let's dance our way over there."

I shimmied my way closer to where Twink was standing, hoping to overhear a part of his conversation to confirm his identity. All I needed was a confirmation of his name. I was listening so intently to his dialogue that I was startled when I felt Brittany's hands slide onto my hips from behind. She pulled me into her, and I suddenly remembered that we were supposed to be dancing.

I looked over my shoulder and caught her smiling. She swayed her body, and despite how nervous I felt at the feeling of her hands on my hips, I returned her smile and began to dance.

* * *

"Why do humans wear clothes? Klohhsss. C-C-Cloes."

Brittany was drunk.

She was standing _so close_ to me, moving her body in time with the music (she was surprisingly good) and tugging insistently at her already too-short shirt. I had to keep pulling it down. Not only because I didn't want everyone else at the club to see her lovely lady lumps, but because I didn't think I could handle seeing them, myself. My self-control was already being pushed to the limit with her long legs and illegal abs completely exposed to my hungry eyes, and her close proximity, the warmth of her body, and the way she was gyrating her hips to whatever Beyonce song was playing was really fucking me up big time. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Insult to injury. Ugh. Do people really say that?

"Britt," I pleaded firmly. "You _have_ to wear clothes." I took the hand that she had splayed on her semi-bare, toned stomach and entwined it with mine, pulling her closer in an attempt to shield her body with my own. She had attracted a lot of attention from both males and females. Interested eyes were roaming over her body, and I was _so_ not cool with that.

"I'm leaving," Kurt said suddenly, his tone heated as he moved next to me seemingly from nowhere, his sparkly gold shorts reflecting the strobe lights. I resisted the urge to flip my shit. I was _beyond_ sexually frustrated, Brittany was drunk, I still hadn't confirmed Twink's identity, and Kurt wanted to _leave_ me?

"Hey Alejandroooo," some knucklehead Gay crooned from across the dance floor. "You can come clean my pool any time!"

Okay, maybe Kurt had it worse than I did at the moment.

"I'm not even Spanish," Kurt hissed angrily. "I honestly don't care at this point if we find this douche bag or not, I can't spend another minute in this thing."

"He's over there," I said distractedly, tilting my head in Twink's direction.

"You think that's him?"

"Come on, you think Andrew McCarthy over there doesn't fit the description of the guy we're looking for? He's got that same smug look that all those other Dalton Academy Gays have."

"I want to eat your carpet," Brittany blurted. I blinked at her.

"Is she okay?" Kurt asked.

"She's pretty much plastered," I said, wincing as Brittany continued to babble.

"At first I thought I actually wanted to eat carpet, but then I studied Puck's magazine, and I realized what it meant and now I think I still want to eat carpet, but only if it's _your_ carpet because your carpet is a nice color, and it feels really nice under me-"

"Is she talking about actual carpet, or-"

"I have no idea," I said. I placed my fingers gently over Brittany's mouth to stop her rant. "Britt, honey, I need you to stop talking, okay? Can you do that for me?"

She looked at me. Her eyes were glazed over. I realized that she was totally gone. Kurt mirrored my pitying expression at the sight. "Oh, San," she said around my fingers, ecstatic. "You called me honey! That's so sweet of you." She paused. "And honey _is_ actually sweet, I learned about bees at the library-"

"I'll find you guys later. I'm gonna go put Phase Two of the plan into action," Kurt said, giving me a sideways look. I shot him a _don't you dare_ glare, but he smiled and slipped away again. I turned back to Brittany, who was still talking about bees, and did the only thing I _could_ do- I pressed my lips to hers. She couldn't talk if she was kissing me.

She moaned loudly, and I felt a cross between embarrassed, because we were still in the middle of the dance floor, and completely turned on at the sound.

"Get a room!" some Gay said harshly.

I broke the kiss and showed him my middle finger- because _seriously?_ We were probably the only couple that wasn't straight-up fucking- complete with an accompanying glare, and he instantly looked as if he was considering hiding behind a support pillar.

The unexpected feeling of Brittany's teeth grazing my neck snapped me back to the reality I was in, and I gasped, tightening my hold on her. She had executed a sneak attack while I was distracted, and I couldn't stop the tremor that ran through me as she nipped at my skin. Her arms slid possessively around my waist, pulling me in even closer, and she began to alternate sucking and biting. I could feel my body heating up further, responding to her- I was quickly losing control over the situation-

"Britt, we've gotta go," I breathed.

"Mm," she murmured in acknowledgement, the sound sending a throbbing feeling straight down to my lady parts. "But I want to dance," she whined as she slid her thigh between my legs, straddling mine in return. She rocked her hips to the beat of yet another Beyonce song, and I bit my lip, struggling to contain my sound of pleasure at the sudden pressure on my sensitive spot.

"This isn't dancing," I protested as she rolled her hips. Fuck, it had been way too long since I had felt her against me. It felt so _good-_

At my statement, she lifted her head from my neck and looked pointedly around. I followed her gaze and realized, pretty stupidly, that yeah, it basically was. Every other couple was doing _worse_.

"I feel sunny," Brittany said, thankfully not returning to my neck and slowing her movement. I cursed the loss and also thanked the Mysterious Fog Gods.

"You mean _funny_?"

"No, I mean I feel really warm."

"Well, you're drunk."

She scrunched her face up and looked at me. Her eyes were so dark. "I'm always drunk when I'm around you, San, we talked about that already."

"Yeah, but I mean you're _actually_ drunk."

"Oh." She thought for a moment. "How do I stop being actually drunk?"

* * *

It turned out transforming negated most of the effects of being drunk. Just like it repaired injuries, it nullified the effects of poisons and other foreign substances, so the alcohol was removed from Brittany's blood. We managed to make it out of the club and behind the building next door to transform into birds and join the others on the rooftop of the building across the street.

"This is bullshit!" Twink was saying as he stormed out of the club.

I guess Phase Two of the plan actually worked.

Twink made his way over to his car, and I watched as Kurt slipped out of the club and moved behind the next building, doing a quick transformation to bird as well.

_[I take it Fievel didn't like Phase Two,]_ I commented as we took flight, gaining altitude to make it easier to follow Twink's car back to his house. That's right, we were full-blown stalkers now.

_[Nobody likes to be called out on having a fake ID,]_ Kurt said nonchalantly.

_[Cold, bro,]_ Puck said.

_[He'll have plenty of time to club when he's _actually_ twenty-one,]_ Mercedes pointed out.

_[Thanks, Mom,]_ I teased.

Eventually Twink pulled into his house and went inside. Four birds of prey, a pigeon and a duck watched him anxiously. It was like a creepy Bird Apocalypse movie. We watched him go through his nightly routine, waiting for any evidence that he might have the blue cube. I guess expecting he'd pull it out and stroke it affectionately while calling it "My Precious" before bed was too much to hope for.

"Goodnight, Beyonce," he said to his pet chinchilla as he planted a loving kiss on its head.

_[Is this guy for fucking real?]_ I asked incredulously. Because, seriously- _seriously_?

_[He has a pet chinchilla,]_ Puck said, just as incredulous.

_[What's wrong with chinchillas?]_ Mercedes asked defensively. _[I was thinking about getting one.]_

_[You were?]_ Sam said, thoughtful. _[I didn't know that.]_

_[I don't think I've ever even _seen_ a real chinchilla before now,]_ I said.

_[It's not that exciting, trust me,]_ Kurt assured_. [The little shits are totally vicious.]_

We watched him intently, searching for any hint or clue, any indication that confirmed our suspicions were correct. But no, of course that would've made life too easy for us. We waited until Twink laid down in his bed and went to sleep, and then Sam spoke.

_[Well we can't break in and look around while he's asleep. If he wakes up, that'll be hard to explain.]_

_[And trust me, the penalty for burglary is reclassified up a step if the place is occupied,]_ Puck said wisely.

I internally rolled my eyes. Of course he would know.

Sam went over our tentative plan (that's right- a billion times) for the next day before we parted, stating that we should all return to Twink's house early the next morning to split up, half of us tailing him and half of us searching his house for the cube. Yeah, technically it was breaking the law, but this was kind of a little more important.

I'm sure the law will forgive us.

* * *

"I'm sorry for becoming actually drunk," Brittany apologized for like the hundredth time.

"And I already told you, it's okay," I said around my toothbrush. We were back at my house, and I was getting ready for bed. Brittany had accompanied me home, and since my parents were gone for the night at some anniversary dinner thing at a hotel (not like they would've been home even if it _wasn't_ their anniversary) and we both had to go out early to meet Sam and the others anyways, I told her she could just stay at my house. I didn't really say it out loud, but I worried about her out in the woods by herself, even though I knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. I'd seen her cut down seven-foot-tall aliens covered in blades. The girl could definitely handle her shit.

I finished brushing my teeth while Brittany watched me with fascination, and then we returned to my room. I laid down on the bed, patting the empty spot beside me. "C'mere," I mumbled. She hesitated for a moment, but then moved to lay in the spot next to me. I instantly curled into her side, draping my bent leg across her and resting my hand on her stomach. I felt her abdomen tense immediately under my hand, and I absently stroked it through her shirt. She was so warm.

I nuzzled her neck, taking a moment to close my eyes and inhale her scent. Her smell comforted and reassured me, and I couldn't stop myself from leaning forward the inch or so to press my lips against her neck, right below her ear. I heard her breath hitch, and the sound reminded me of how turned on I had been earlier in the night, with her dancing against me, her hips pushing against my thigh…

The unexpected throb between my legs made me clench them involuntarily, and the movement did not go unnoticed by Brittany. She reached to stroke her fingertips across my bare arm, and even the slightest touch by her made my skin tingle. I kissed her neck more firmly in response, and she tilted her head, exposing more of her neck to me.

Well, I certainly wasn't going to turn down her invitation.

I gently bit her ear, smiling internally as she gasped, and then traced my tongue slowly down her neck. She squeezed my arm and I pressed more open-mouthed kisses to her neck, noting her rapidly increased breathing. I kissed at the hinge of her jaw and nipped at it, thinking about what to say to her. I wanted to tell her how attractive she was, but that didn't seem entirely right- after all, her form was just that: a form. And while it was, of course, attractive in and of itself, I wanted her to know that it was _her_ I was attracted to, not just her body.

I couldn't think of how to tell her that, though, without going into some big corny speech about feelings, and I kind of wanted to get my make out on, so instead I moved to kiss her, letting my body settle on top of hers.

She kissed me back passionately, her arms wrapping naturally around my waist, her hand splaying on my lower back. I rested my elbows just above her shoulders and let my fingers lace in her hair, cradling her head at the base of her skull. She moaned softly into my mouth, and we kissed languidly, stroking the slow fire that had been building inside me all night.

I arched slightly as I felt her warm palm slip under my shirt and come in contact with the skin on my lower back, and I released a shaky breath. Her touch felt as if it had burned an imprint on me, and I felt that fire roaring higher as she rubbed up and down my lower back, her fingers every so often teasing daringly beneath the waistband of my pajama shorts.

I felt like a rubber band getting tighter and tighter the longer she caressed my skin, and I was getting close to snapping. I wanted to touch her so badly; I didn't think I could resist another moment. I trailed my left hand down to her stomach and under her shirt, desperate to touch her skin. She arched at the feeling, her stomach tensing so that I felt the definition of the muscles beneath my fingers, and I moaned into her mouth. She was hot beneath my hand, and the warmth made me shake with desire. I wanted to _kiss_ her there-

"San," she groaned into my mouth, and I inched my hand further beneath her shirt to wrap around her side, caressing her lower ribs- not too high- I just wanted to feel her skin. She seemed to have a similar idea, because she pushed my shirt up slightly with one hand, exposing my stomach, and with her other hand still splayed on my lower back, pulled me down to her, so our bare stomachs were pressed flush.

I gasped at the heat, at the skin-to-skin contact, the way her bare stomach felt against mine, and kissed her fiercely, sucking on her tongue. Her hand on my back slid up higher under my shirt, resting between my shoulder blades, her other hand reached down to cup my ass-

I pulled back, panting, and grinned at her. She was also struggling for breath, her cheeks were pink, her eyes half lidded. "Sneak," I accused playfully, leaning forward to brush my lips against hers.

"I have to ch-change soon," she whimpered, tightening her grip on me.

I hummed in disappointment and gently took her bottom lip between my teeth, biting it teasingly. I sucked it and a moan rumbled up from her chest, her whole body shaking in response.

"San, _please_," she begged.

I sighed and pulled back. "Not yet," I said softly. "Not like this."

She swallowed. "What do I- have to do?" she stammered, and I smiled fondly at her. She was so adorable. I kissed her lips, then the corner of her mouth, and then her jaw.

"Britt," I murmured against her skin. "You're wonderful. I just want to make sure you're sure, and you know what it means."

"I am sure," she said ardently, her blue eyes flashing with desire. "And I know what it means- Puck gave me a magazine."

I raised a curious eyebrow. "A magazine?" I echoed. "What magazine?"

"It's entitled _Playboy_ and it has an Earth rabbit wearing-"

"Oh, _what_," I said, wincing. Her expression confirmed her statement, and I sighed.

Well, that explained a lot.

* * *

_[Is this kid _ever_ going to leave his house?]_ Mercedes grumped.

I had to agree with Wheezy on that one. Twink had been home all morning, which pretty much thwarted all of our plans to search his house for the blue cube.

_[All he's been doing is singing to himself in the mirror,] _Puck complained, outraged and voicing the frustration we all felt.

_[I never thought I'd say this, but I've heard about as much of Billy Joel as I can stand,]_ Kurt agreed. I didn't even have enough patience left to act appropriately shocked at that statement, I was so fed up.

_[Well we can't just barge in there,]_ Sam started.

_[Why?]_ Brittany wondered.

Sam ignored her_. [I'm sure he'll leave soon.]_

Ten minutes later, he was still performing every song in Billy Joel's extensive music list (seriously, even the non-popularized ones- who even knows the song, "This Night" anyway?) to the grand audience of his own reflection, and I was ready to murder him. We had been observing him for at least three hours, making it to his house before he even woke up. After watching him go through an extensive skin care ritual which I mercilessly made fun of and Kurt defended indignantly, I was so ready to be done with this gay.

But even after we all cycled through our re-transformations, he was still nowhere near looking like he was ready to leave his house. He was the only one home, and I was getting restless.

_[What if Sam went down and offered to sell him chapstick?]_ I suggested brightly. I had been coming up with similarly helpful suggestions all morning, but after three hours, I was running out of ideas. Hey, I have limits on my brilliance, too. There's only so many mouth jokes one can make at a time.

_[What if we-]_ I started but I was cut off by Kurt.

_[Guys, we've got trouble!]_

_[What?]_ Sam asked. We were all suddenly a lot more alert.

Kurt circled in the sky in the direction he wanted us to look, and that's when we saw it.

_[Yeerks!]_ Sam cried. They were pretty far off in the distance, but there was no mistaking the caravan of large black vehicles rolling in our direction.

_[Shit!]_ Puck said_. [So much for confirming his identity!]_

_[Maybe they already have,]_ Mercedes muttered.

We all panicked a little bit. It hadn't occurred to us that the Yeerks would confirm he had the cube before we did. We didn't have a back-up plan- well, other than the trusty Plan B.

_[Okay, we've gotta talk to him!]_ Sam said quickly. _[We've gotta tell him- if we can get him to give us the cube, we can keep it from the Yeerks.]_

_[He's never gonna believe us,]_ I groaned_. [Would_ you?]

_[We'll have to prove it to him,]_ Kurt said softly. _[But we need to hurry, because we are running out of time.]_

_[What're we going to do with him once he knows our secret?]_ I demanded_. _I knew we were running out of time but we couldn't take a decision like this lightly._ [We can't just let him go.]_

_[It's too dangerous,]_ Brittany agreed.

_[We'll make him one of us,]_ Sam stated, like it was obvious.

_[What?]_ Puck growled. _[You've gotta be kidding me, dude!]_

_[I don't trust him,]_ I said. _[He looks like the rejected actor cast to play Prince Charming in a live action Cinderella TV sitcom.]_

_[I don't either,]_ Kurt agreed. _[I just get really bad vibes.]_

_[Might want to change the batteries in your vibrator, then,]_ I pointed out.

_[I don't like him either,]_ Puck agreed_. [And not even because he's gay, either. What kind of kid keeps a chinchilla as a pet, and then names it Beyonce?]_

_[We're running out of time,]_ Mercedes urged.

_[I know you guys don't like him, but what choice do we have?]_ Sam asked. _[Are you ready to watch this kid die? Or _worse_, become a slave to the Yeerks?]_

That got us. No one deserved that fate, chinchillas be damned.

_[No,]_ Mercedes said quietly, voicing what we were all thinking.

_[Then I guess that settles it,]_ Puck said, frustrated.

_[Hey! Kid!]_ Sam called. Twink's head snapped up.

"Who's there?"

_[This is a mistake,]_ I muttered.

_[No choice,]_ Mercedes reminded.

_[Listen, Sebastian-]_

"How do you know my name?"

I would've facepalmed myself if I could have.

_[I've been watching you,] _Sam said.

Oh, my GOD. Like that wasn't completely fucking creepy. Why did I let Sam talk to these people?

_[You see, I'm a boy, like you, but-]_

_[Hurry it _up_, Sammy,]_ I hissed, agitated.

_[I'm just trying to explain-]_

_[Yeah, well, you fucking suck at it,]_ I snapped.

_[Feel free to take over,]_ He retorted.

_[They're on the next street!]_ Puck cried. _[We've gotta do _something_!]_

_[Listen, kid,]_ I started, irritated. _[There's some extremely bad people who are about to roll up on you.]_

"How do you know?"

Seriously?!

_[I. Can. See. Them,] _I grated.

_[Not so easy, is it,]_ Sam said smugly.

I ignored him. Now I was getting really pissed. We were running out of time. I could hear the sound of the Hummers' tires squealing as they turned onto Twink's street.

It was time to get drastic.

I swooped into Twink's open window. He looked terrified for a moment as I landed on his desk. I turned my fierce Predator Bird gaze on him.

_[Okay, here's how this is going to go, Nick at Nite,]_ I snarled viciously. _[You know that blue box you found? At the abandoned construction site?]_

He looked uneasy for a moment before he glanced briefly over to his dresser.

It was enough.

_[Puck,]_ I called.

_[Got it,]_ he said, swooping in. His bird form was even bigger than mine and he landed on the bed and immediately began to change. Twink took a step back, cowering slightly, and watched Puck in terrified fascination.

"Wh-What are you?" He cried. I inwardly rolled my eyes, ignoring him. The sound of skidding tires floated up to us and Sam announced that he and Mercedes were going behind the house to transform into avatars because the Yeerks just arrived.

Fuck.

Twink's face looked horrified as ten different car doors slammed, right beneath his window. Puck made it to human seconds after. Brittany floated in and began to transform back to Andalite at a blazing pace.

_[We've got Hork-Bajir!]_ Kurt called from outside. _[Jeez, and in broad daylight! The Yeerks are desperate.]_

_[Well, your life just ended,]_ I told Twink, beginning my transformation. _[Because if you don't come with _us- willingly-_ you will go with _them- un_willingly.]_ I tried to change as rapidly as I could, knowing we were out of time. Puck ripped open the drawers to the dresser and rummaged through them until he came up with the cube. Brittany completed her transformation to Andalite. I was more than halfway between human and bird when I heard the front door slam.

"What- How- I don't- that's _mine_!" Twink said.

"Not anymore," Puck growled. He handed the cube to Brittany and began his transformation to wolf. _Shit, shit, shit._

A hesitant male voice called out from downstairs. "Sebastian?"

"Dad?" Twink called.

"No!" I hissed, completing my change back to human. I focused on the cheetah and felt the changes begin.

_Come on, come on, come on. Spots, teeth, fur, claws-_

"Dad! There's some people up here, and they-"

FWAPP!

Brittany's tail whipped forward and struck Twink on the head with the flat of the blade. He crumpled to the floor, groaning, but not completely unconscious.

I heard several pairs of heavy footsteps pounding up the stairs, and then the bedroom door slammed open with three human-controllers and three Hork-Bajir and I dove behind the bed to finish the transformation to cheetah.

Talk about cutting it close.

"Andalites!" Twink's father yelled when he spotted us. I guess it was a Yeerk thing to always announce it. It was handy, though, because sometimes it took the guesswork out of figuring out if people were Controllers or not.

Puck, fully wolf, snarled and lunged, and the three human-controllers retreated out of the room, leaving just the three Hork-Bajir to deal with. Puck dove right in, tearing at one of the Hork Bajir's throats, earning a slice to his ribs in the process. He yipped in pain and dropped off of the alien, but was springing back on him seconds later.

Brittany cradled the small blue cube in her arms, but whipped her tail forward, severing limbs. I crouched down quickly, now fully cheetah, and sprang forward and over the bed, tackling one of the three aliens to the ground. He smacked his snake-like head on the desk on the way down. I dragged my claws across his face and sank my cheetah teeth into the tender flesh at the base of his neck, feeling his blood gush into my mouth. He screamed and sliced at me, but he couldn't throw me off.

_[Shit, guys, we've got more reinforcements coming in!]_ Kurt called.

_[Sam, where the fuck are you?]_ I demanded angrily as I received a deep cut to my flank. _[We've gotta get this kid out of here!]_

_[Coming!]_ Sam responded. _[We had a tussle with the human-Controllers that exited the house.]_

_[Four more Hummers approaching,]_ Kurt reported tersely.

I don't remember when Sam entered the room- we had disabled the three Hork-Bajir by the time he got up the stairs. Twink had regained his bearings, though, and was watching us, completely horrified.

_[Sebastian,]_ Sam said kindly_. [We need to go.]_

"Wh-Wh-Who are you?" he whimpered, cowering on the ground. His head was bleeding profusely. I guess Brittany nicked him.

_[We're the good guys,]_ Sam said proudly.

_[Oh, for fuck's sake,]_ I growled, rolling my cheetah eyes. I turned to Twink. _[Get the hell up, or we will drag your unconscious body with us.]_

_[Santana!]_ Sam reprimanded.

_[She's right, dude,]_ Puck said_. [We have to take him, either way. He's seen us, and we can't let him become infested or we might as well kiss our lives, the war, and the whole planet good-bye.]_

_[Fighting more Hork-Bajir is not relevant to my interests at the moment,] _Brittany pointed out. She held up the cube. _[We have the cube.]_

I didn't miss the glare of hatred that Twink shot Brittany as she showed off the cube. But I didn't have time to worry about that.

_[Come with us, Sebastian,]_ Mercedes said gently. _[We'll explain everything to you once we are safely away from here.]_

Twink hesitated for a moment. He looked at us, his eyes wild. Then he nodded. "O-Okay," he said finally.

Sam, in gorilla form, reached a giant leathery hand out to help Twink to his feet, and then we were charging down the stairs and out the back door of the house just as the Yeerk reinforcements rolled up on the scene.

But by the time they reached us, we were gone.

* * *

"I know it seems crazy- we didn't believe it either, at first," Sam reassured.

The dude was crying. Like, straight up crying. I felt a little sorry for him- I felt like crying sometimes myself. But he didn't even have a home to go back to. He couldn't go to school. He could never be seen in public again, or the Yeerks would find him. His parents were infested. He had nothing, no one.

Nobody except us.

We told him everything. About the Yeerks. About the war. We introduced Brittany. We explained to him that he couldn't go home. We had pretty much covered everything- well, everything except-

"It will be okay," Mercedes said gently. "We can give you the power to fight."

"Fight?" he repeated. He wiped his tears away with a clenched fist. "What do you mean?"

"Bro, you saw us change into animals," Puck said casually. Sebastian looked shocked, as if he was just remembering that he had, in fact, watched us transform.

"That blue box, the one you found?" Mercedes said. "It can give people the power to transform into animals. It's how we got the power."

"We use the power to fight the Yeerks," Sam said proudly. "And so can you. And maybe someday, you can free your parents."

Sebastian looked down for a moment, considering it. "So I pretty much have to join you guys, huh?"

"You can say no," Kurt pointed out.

Sebastian laughed harshly. "Yeah, right. And you guys will just let me walk away, now that I know who you are? I don't think so." He sighed bitterly. "I can't go home, my parents might as well be dead." He looked at me, his gaze cold. "It was you who said it, right? I have no life anymore."

I felt a shiver run down my spine, a bad feeling settling in the pit of my stomach. But I returned his glare.

"Yeah, boo hoo," I said. "We've all given up things to fight this war. We're trying to help you here."

"Some help," he muttered.

I clenched my jaw, and, unknowingly, my fist.

_[San,]_ Brittany said gently, privately. I glanced over at her and she caught my gaze. I felt my anger dissipating. I unclenched my fist.

"I guess I don't really have a choice," Sebastian said finally. "So let's do this."

Sam smiled gently. "Brittany?"

Brittany stepped forward, holding the blue cube out. _[If you're sure about it,]_ she said hesitantly, smiling her Andalite smile. _[Put your hand on the cube.]_

We all put our hands on the cube, even though she didn't say we had to. I guess it was like when couples reaffirm their marriage vows or something. We were all doing it to reaffirm our camaraderie with each other, and to make an attempt to include Sebastian in that camaraderie, even with the tension between him and the rest of us.

After a moment, the tingle disappeared, and we removed our hands. Sam turned to Sebastian and Sebastian grinned as Sam shook his hand.

"Welcome to the Transformers, dude," Sam said.

I had a very, very bad feeling.

* * *

**And on that note, see you next Monday, kids! :D**

**Review if you feel like it!**


	11. Instant

**Hi, everyone.**

**Sorry for the delay. I've been in my Brittana feels this week in preparation for The Break Up episode. ._.**

**Hope you like the chapter, though. :D**

**To all my reviewers and faithful followers (you know who you are,) you guys are awesome! Reading your comments makes me smile. :) Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you think. I'm totally writing this story for you! ;)**

**Well, and me. But I already know how it ends, so. LOL.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"This tastes like a cloud," Brittany gushed. Her face was covered in cotton candy.

"Hold still," I said as I frowned good-naturedly, plucking a few sticky wisps of pink and blue from her blonde hair. She immediately seized my hand and sucked my first two fingers into her mouth, swirling her tongue around them to ensure she got all of the cotton candy.

"A cloud," she sighed happily, closing her eyes and unashamedly sucking on my fingers.

Aaaand great, I'm turned on again.

Fuck my life.

It was the weekend after the Sebastian fiasco, and we had decided that we needed a break. The State Fair was in town, and it was the perfect way for all of us to get out and do something normal for a change. So, despite Sugar's insistence that we needed to visit her a-sap to fulfill our promise to give her the transforming power now that we had the cube, we kind of blew her off.

I mean, we had the cube. It's not like it was going anywhere. She could get the power after our mini-vacation. Bitch waited this long... and I'm sure she had some other insane mission ready for us to go on, anyways.

I usually wasn't down for the State Fair- it was way too many fat people and long lines and screaming kids and not enough alcohol consumption. But all right, sharing it with Brittany and experiencing it with her kind of really appealed to me and so what if I was having fun for a change? I was entitled.

We were all there- well, except for Sebastian and Kurt. Sebastian, of course, couldn't be seen in public or he'd bring the Yeerks down on him faster than a helpless Andalite host body (which, according to Brittany, had never happened- an Andalite being infested, that is.) Kurt had volunteered to keep Sebastian company, since we still didn't trust him enough to leave him alone yet. And I don't know, I guess having another gay in the group meant Kurt finally had someone to talk to or something. Because he _sure_ as hell couldn't talk to _me_.

Sebastian was living in the shack out in the woods where we had kept Sam when he was a Controller. It was still unoccupied (actually: the homeless person who'd lived there still hadn't returned yet) so we moved Sebastian in until we could figure out somewhere more permanent for him. He went to Sam's house to shower and stuff when Sam's parents weren't home, but it was still a pretty rugged lifestyle. I know I couldn't handle using leaves for toilet paper for more than like, a day.

I tried to feel sorry for him- it wasn't his fault he was stuck in such a shitty situation (no pun intended,) after all- but I had been spending my free time fighting the Yeerks for a long time now, and it was hard to feel guilty about enjoying normal things.

Well, as normal as they could be with Brittany around.

"Is that a human spacecraft?" Brittany asked curiously as we walked past a _Gravitron_. She had finished her cotton candy, which up to that point had occupied all of her attention, and was now studying the various rides that were lined up on the Midway. It was just a little chilly out, and Brittany was of course dressed flawlessly in a furry hat, a mismatched long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and boots. I squeezed her pinky, which I was holding with my own, and grinned at her expression, which was a mix between pity and curiosity.

"No, it's just a ride that simulates like, uh-" Okay, so I wasn't really sure what it was supposed to simulate. "Zero gravity? Um. Floating?"

Her eyes got wide. "Can we go in it?"

I shrugged. "If you want to, although you just ate that entire bag of cotton candy-"

But she was already tugging me onto the _Gravitron_. Once inside, she wandered around, inspecting it. "This is a poor recreation of zero gravity," she told me seriously.

I laughed. "It hasn't started yet, Britt."

"Well what must I do to start it?"

"We have to wait until everyone gets on. See?" I pointed at the people still coming in through the entrance, and tugged her over to two empty spots. "Just wait here. It'll start soon."

After a few more minutes, everyone was aligned with a panel and some spooky electronic beeping noises played. Some strobe lights flashed and a booming robotic voice crackled over the speaker.

"Welcome to the GRAVITRONNNNNNN," the voice said. "YOU ARE ABOUT TO LEAVE EARTH!"

I looked over to see Brittany's reaction- she looked absolutely delighted. She was grinning and her eyes were wide with fascination and mirth. Then, suddenly, the ride started, as well as some Black-Eyed Peas song. I rolled my eyes. Why did cheesy rides need equally cheesy music?

We began to spin, slowly at first, but then it picked up speed and the ride did its thing where we were all hovering in the air. Some of the other kids decided to show off how completely pathetic they actually were by demonstrating their _Gravitron_-riding skills, turning horizontally and reclining with hands behind their heads. I could only guess at how many times they'd ridden the ride to achieve their ridiculous poses. _Congratulations, losers._ After a few more moments of "floating," the ride began to slow down and we sank back to the floor.

When it was time to exit, Brittany, whose eyes were sparkling with laughter, stumbled slightly, and I gripped her arm to steady her.

"Two legs, very unstable," she said giddily, shaking her head at her wobbly legs. We walked outside, giggling, and she regained her usual stride. "That is not at all what zero gravity feels like, nor do I think we actually left Earth as the loud crackling voice foretold," she said, scrunching up her face.

"Yeah?" I asked, grinning at her.

She nodded, and then smiled widely. "But it was still _really_ fun."

* * *

We went on some other rides, named awful things like the _Tornado_, the _Hurricane_, and other natural disasters. We went on the _Zipper_, the _Ring of Fire_, the _Tilt-O-Whirl_… I was glad we had gotten wristbands because Brittany was determined to ride everything that the Midway had to offer. After we made it down the line, she did a quick change in the bathroom, and we moved on to strolling through the shops, getting even more junk food, and ending up at the exhibits and stage area of the fair, complete with a petting zoo. (Brittany spent at least five minutes petting and acquiring every animal, admonishing, "You never know when this form might prove useful, San!" I humored her and acquired a goat.) I checked the lineup for the shows- we had chosen this particular day to come to the fair because Flo-Rida was doing a concert, along with some heavy metal band that Puck wanted to see. Sam was excited because some comic book writer was doing a signing (how totally lame, right?) and Mercedes wanted to get a funnel cake. We had agreed to meet up later in the evening at the Flo-Rida concert, and went our separate ways.

I was kind of glad. While I enjoyed spending literally almost every free second I had lately with the others (no- _really_), I cherished my alone time with Brittany. We hadn't really gotten many chances to be alone in the past week with the constant rotation of Sebastian shifts; since she didn't have school or other obligations, she was the one who spent the most time watching him.

I squeezed her pinky again, just because, and she looked up from eating a gigantic turkey leg to give me a curious look. I only smiled at her, and she smiled back, her face a complete mess from the turkey leg.

"What?" she asked. She paused for a moment, thoughtful. "Did you want some of this?" She offered me the turkey leg and I shook my head. She took a huge bite instead.

"Nothing, I'm just- really happy to be here with you, Britt." Yes, I actually said something that corny. Deal with it.

She beamed at me, her mouth full of turkey. She swallowed and squeezed my pinky in return. "Me, too."

* * *

Flo-Rida was awesome. Brittany and I danced in the audience next to Mercedes and Sam, and it was just generally a really amazing, feel-good time. It was really refreshing to enjoy something normal and simple like a concert with friends. I screamed myself hoarse and my eardrums were ringing, but I had a blast.

Afterwards, Mercedes suggested we all ride the Ferris wheel, and at the prospect of riding something she hadn't been on yet, Brittany's eyes lit up.

We got in line- apparently, every group of people had the brilliant idea to ride the Ferris wheel after the concert- and waited. After a moment I noticed Brittany staring at me, so I turned to her, catching her gaze.

"You excited?" I asked, nodding towards the slowly-turning gigantic wheel.

She nodded, not taking her eyes off me. The lights from the wheel reflected in her blue eyes, and I felt the overwhelming urge to kiss her. I was consciously aware that we were in public. A public that was vastly different from a gay bar. Brittany seemed to be aware of my problem, too, because she made no move to kiss me, and instead turned her hand so that all of our fingers laced together instead of just our pinkies.

I smiled at the gesture, my heart pounding. _God_, I wanted to kiss her so badly. I hadn't tasted her lips in- had it been _that long_?

"San, you're staring at my lips," she murmured with a teasing smile. I averted my eyes down to our hands. Okay, so she caught me.

"Mmhm," I admitted, stroking my thumb across hers.

"You can kiss me if you want to," she breathed. I raised my eyes back up to hers, but movement over her shoulder in the distance caught my eye.

It was an older man, somewhere in his 40s, dressed in tan slacks and a long-sleeved shirt with a cardigan tied around his shoulders. He was balding and wore tiny glasses, but, more importantly, he was waving his arms and raving like a madman.

"Stop it!" he cried. He clutched at the sides of his face. "Get out of my head!"

Sam moved beside me from his place in line, his expression tense. "What's going on?"

"I don't-"

"Aaagh! " He fell to his knees. His body jerked and he shook violently. "Get get get OUT, yeft dapsen pool? Ghafrash fit Visser!"

"That's Galard!" Brittany whispered.

"What?"

"The universal language," she explained quickly. "Many species across the galaxy use and recognize it. Including the Yeerks."

Oh, shit.

The man had broken down into violent sobbing, and he rolled onto his side, curling into the fetal position. He began beating his fists against his head and screaming. A small crowd was beginning to form. If the guy didn't shut up, he was going to end up in an institution. I could already see security in the distance.

I made a split-second decision and moved to his side.

Ugh, why did shit always happen to _me_?

"All right, John Wayne Gacy, time to get up," I hissed, grabbing the guy's arm and helping him to his feet.

"What? Who are you?" he asked, his expression a cross between hopeful and terrified.

"Just a concerned citizen," I muttered as I led him away from the crowd of onlookers and behind the darkness of a food tent. "Not sure _why_ you were causing a scene back there unless you were hoping for an early death, but you were sure-"

"Just leave me alone," he yelled suddenly, wrenching his arm from my grip and turning away. He clutched his head in agony, clenching his eyes closed. "You can't help me."

Two cops chose that moment to come around the corner.

"What's going on here?" one of the men asked, his hand hovering over his stun gun. I rolled my eyes, but I definitely wasn't dumb- I kept my distance.

The man broke down in some more raving, collapsing onto the ground again, and I backed away as the two police officers moved to restrain him. Once they had him proned out, the second officer got on the radio and called for a detention transport, while I hid behind the corner of the darkened tent, observing.

"Please help me," the man sobbed again. "Get him out!"

"Get who out?" the officer asked in a cold, unconcerned tone as he slid handcuffs on the man.

"The Yeerk!"

I felt a cold dread run through me.

_Looks like I'm not riding the Ferris wheel after all._

* * *

"You're sure he said 'Yeerk?'" Puck demanded.

"He definitely did," I confirmed.

_[And he spoke Galard,]_ Brittany chimed in.

We were back at the corn fields discussing the incident.

Kurt sighed. "We never get a break, do we?"

"Guess not," Sam shrugged. He turned to me. "How was he able to control his body with a Yeerk in his head?" Sam knew better than any of us how hard it was to fight off Yeerk control. It was impossible.

I shrugged. "Who knows? We'd have to ask _him_, I guess."

"True. What did they do with him once they took him?"

"Well they ran his info- his name is Sandy Ryerson, and they Baker-Acted him over to the hospital after he tried to get one of the cops to shoot him."

"They'll probably have him sent away tomorrow afternoon, after he's evaluated," Puck stated. "Our best chance at talking to him is while he's in the hospital, because those institutions are locked up tight."

"So what, we break into the hospital?" Sebastian demanded. This would be his first 'mission' and he didn't fully understand how we operated.

"Well, hopefully we don't have to _break_ in," Sam said.

"My dad's a doctor there," I explained. "So I know most of the hospital staff. I know it's against HIPPA or whatever, but I'm sure I can find out where Sandy is. Then it's just a matter of strolling into his room undetected."

"And we are masters at 'undetected,'" Puck bragged.

Sebastian sent us a distasteful look, but remained silent.

"We don't _all_ need to go in," Sam said. "Santana, you obviously have to go. And Puck, since you're such a _master_-"

"Yeah! I sat the last one out, so it's about time the Puckster got his stealth on," Puck said enthusiastically, pumping his fist.

Sam turned to Sebastian. "How do you feel about going on this one?"

Sebastian looked surprised, but he smiled. "Cool!"

I withheld the glare I wanted to send in Sam's direction. Great.

"Okay then, I'll fly surveillance. The rest of you can sit this one out."

I sighed irritably. Not only did I have to do this mission with Sebastian, but I had to do it _without_ Brittany.

* * *

"Hi, Santana," the pudgy Filipino guy said from behind the front desk. "Looking for your father?"

"No, Howard," I said. "I'm actually here to visit a friend of mine… I don't suppose you could tell me where he's at? His name is Sandy Ryerson."

"Well, I'm not really supposed to say-"

"Howard," I said pointedly. "Sandy is my _friend_. It's not like I'm here to terrorize him. You don't want me to get my father, do you?"

My father was known around the hospital to have a pretty bad temper, especially when it came to his patients not getting the care they deserved. It's where I got my famous bitchy attitude from.

It's a gift, really.

Howard looked appropriately frightened. He shook his head quickly.

"N-No," he said. "That won't be n-necessary." He turned to the computer to check the patient assignments. "He's in room 5237."

I smiled widely. "Thanks, Howard."

"Sure, Santana…"

I turned from his desk and navigated my way to the elevator. Once inside, I pressed the "door shut" button and waited.

"Okay, change," I whispered, reaching into my pocket and pulling out two flies- Puck and Sebastian.

They immediately began to transform back to human, and I pressed the button for the fifth floor. I knew firsthand that there were no cameras in the elevators, and it took an unreasonable amount of time to get to any destination. All those summers volunteering with my dad paid off in a really weird way, I guess.

By the time we reached the fifth floor, Puck and Sebastian were mostly human, Puck a little further along than Sebastian. The doors dinged open and I peeked out into the hall. It was empty, and I waited impatiently for the boys to finish transforming before I moved out into the hall.

They followed me as I turned down a corridor and then another, making my way to room 5237. When I reached the door, I took a deep breath.

"Okay, let _me_ do the talking. Sebastian, keep an eye out, okay?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow at being told what to do, but nodded and stood guard at the door while Puck and I entered the room.

"Sandy?" I called gently.

"Who's there?" the guy responded fearfully from his bed in the corner of the room. "Have you finally come for me?"

"Uh. Yes," I said hesitantly, moving closer and eyeing his bed. He was strapped to the bed rails with leather restraints. I guess being crazy also meant being suicidal.

His eyes grew wide as he recognized me, and then noticed Puck standing menacingly behind me, and he began to cry, his voice hysterical. "Oh, God, I knew it! I knew this day would come! I'm just a lowly human! It's the Yeerk who's crazy! Don't kill me!"

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't help it. I was thankful he was the only one in the room (probably because all his carrying on would've put anyone sharing a room with him into a _coma_, for fuck's sake, he was _so loud_) but I was concerned he was going to alert the nurses to our presence.

"No, no, shhh," I said awkwardly. It's weird trying to comfort a man you've only met once for five minutes. "I'm not a Yeerk."

He stopped crying immediately. Like, turned it off just like that. I glared at him. "You're not?" he asked. "Then who are you? ...Andalite?"

"Yeah," I lied. It was better he thought I was an Andalite. "Yes, _Andalite_. Hi."

"Oh, thank God," he blubbered. "Perhaps you can help me! There's got to be a way to get this thing out of my head!"

I blinked. "Uh- no, I can't help you," I said. "But- why doesn't the Yeerk leave? Doesn't he have to return to the Yeerk Pool in three days?"

Sandy looked at me sadly. "Not anymore. He will never leave."

"What? How is that possible?" I demanded. There were two things I was absolutely certain of in the universe- Sam had huge lips, and Yeerks had to leave their host bodies every three days to return to the Yeerk Pool. They _had_ to.

"It was an accident," Sandy whispered, his eyes staring into space, as if he was remembering some epic story. "I didn't know how dangerous it was at the time…"

"Dude, what're you _talking_ about?" Puck said, snapping his fingers to gain Sandy's attention. "Why won't the Yeerk leave?"

"The oatmeal!" Sandy blurted suddenly. "It makes Yeerks insane- and eliminates their need for Kandrona rays. But because of that, they don't need to leave their host bodies to return to the Pool."

"Hold up," I said, making a face. "You said _oatmeal_ does this?"

"Yes," Sandy confirmed. "But only the maple and ginger flavor, and only the _instant_ kind!"

"This guy is fucking nuts," Puck said in a stage whisper.

I turned to Puck and gave him a _for fucking real, dude_ look, and turned back to Sandy. "What do you mean, 'it makes Yeerks insane'?"

"It's like a drug to them," Sandy explained. "They become addicted- crazy, but- Yeft farum Madra! Darkap ghafrash Hruthin-"

I waited uncomfortably while he went into another ranting of the language Brittany had called Galard. He strained against his bonds and his eyes took on a crazed look. He thrashed and struggled for long moments, yelling out Galard phrases while I watched in horrified fascination. You know, like seeing a humongous woman squeezed into a tiny spaghetti-strap shirt- I couldn't look away. Finally, he slumped against the bed, panting and sweating.

"I apologize," he said. "The Yeerk breaks through sometimes." I nodded in understanding as he continued. I was only _slightly_ creeped out, no biggie. And I felt just a little bit sorry for this guy. "I've been a slave for so long, it's weird to be in control of my own body again. Well- partial control," he said sadly.

"You can't force him out?"

"No." He looked at me. "And he will live as long as I do."

You know in the movies, where you feel the chill run down your spine? Well, I'm here to tell you: that shit actually _happens_.

"So we find a way to get a bunch of oatmeal to a bunch of Yeerks," Puck reasoned, breaking the silence that had settled over the room and effectively changing the subject. Oh, and talking to me as if Sandy wasn't there.

"Yeah, but how? We still don't even know where the Yeerk Pool is, _or_ how to get to it," I complained. "Nevermind how we are going to sneak in a bunch of Yeerk cocaine."

"That might not be a problem for much longer," Sandy said seriously, inserting himself into the conversation again.

"What do you mean?" Puck asked.

"They- the Yeerks- are starting on the construction of an above-ground Yeerk Pool," Sandy told us.

"The fuck?" I exploded. "Isn't that a little brash?" An above-ground Yeerk Pool? That was basically like saying, _Hey fucktards! Here I am, come and get me!_

"Visser Seven is impatient and arrogant," Sandy explained.

"Tell me more," I muttered. There I go, quoting memes again.

"He believes he can disguise the construction under the guise of building an aquarium," Sandy continued softly. "He-"

Sandy commenced babbling Galard again for another minute or so, jerking and shaking in his bed. I looked at the ceiling tiles and rolled up onto my toes a few times while I waited for him to finish. Shit was _so_ awkward. What do you even do when someone has a mini freak-out because they lost control over the insane alien in their head?

Yeeeeah, I definitely didn't have a Guide to Appropriate Responses, so I looked at Puck and exchanged a worried glance. When Sandy came back to himself, he continued talking, though slightly more out of breath.

"There is an entrance to the Yeerk Pool, though," he panted.

"Where?" I asked. Finally, some fucking _good_ news!

"It's beneath the high school."

"I knew that place was evil," Puck growled under his breath. I shot him a look that said, _can you focus?_ and turned back to Sandy.

"How do we get in?"

"Through Sue's office. The cabinet behind her desk is the entrance."

"Soooo we just open it and walk through into Narnia, or-?" I started.

Sandy nodded. "Yes. There are no security measures- it's Visser Seven's private entrance. My Yeerk used to serve under him, which is why I know of it."

Well, shit, I didn't really _need_ to know all that, but thanks, I guess.

"Thank you, Mr. Ryerson," I said hesitantly. I wanted to say something else, like about how sorry I was that he was strapped to a bed about to undergo psychiatric evaluation because of the insane alien in his head, or about how I wish I could do more for him.

But I didn't exactly know how to tell him all that without sounding dumb, so instead I just left.

* * *

The Yeerk Pool.

I couldn't stop thinking about it.

We had planned to go the next evening; we didn't want to waste any time, and the weekend was almost over, anyways. The school would be closed. Pssh. Like that was even a problem.

After our post-hospital meeting, we took Sebastian to the zoo to get him an avatar, since it was after hours. We didn't know what we would encounter at the Pool, and we wanted to be prepared. I felt confident that I had some pretty strong forms already- my cheetah and my bull had proven to me that they were unstoppable when combined with my incredible smarts, so why would I need anything else?

Sebastian, however, only had a fly form and a bird form- a black crow. And neither of those forms were going to do much damage to the Yeerks in a fight. Unless that fly was carrying, like, the bubonic plague or something. Oh, wait, that's mosquitos. All right, so there was actually _zero_ chance he was going to do damage with those two forms.

"I want to get a lion," Sebastian said, enthused, as we worked our way behind the exhibits. You know, the parts of the zoo we weren't allowed in. Because we seriously cared about that. At all.

"A lion? Don't you think that's a little- I don't know, intense for a first avatar?" Sam asked gently. "Maybe you should try a wolf or some-"

Sebastian turned to Sam. "No offense," he started calmly. "But Puck- did Sam tell you what avatar to acquire?"

Puck shrugged. "No. But-"

Sebastian gave Sam a resentful look and got right up in his face. "So why are you telling _me_ which animal I should acquire?"

I felt my eyebrows shoot up in absolute shock, and I could feel anger overtaking me. This kid was about to get his face improved if he talked to Sam like that for another second-

Sam, to his credit, backed down, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture and smiling reassuringly. "It was only a suggestion, dude. Calm down. You can acquire whatever you want."

Sebastian looked around at us like we might argue, and for a second I thought I might, but then he turned away from Sam and began walking down the hall towards the lion exhibit. I followed at a distance, keeping my glare focused on his back. I felt my fist clenching again. Sebastian was pissing me off royally and he wasn't even doing anything, really. I didn't like his attitude, didn't like the way he talked to Sam, didn't like his _face_-

Brittany walked up next to me and slid her pinky in mine, and I felt a little better.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to something I hadn't in a while- Brittany kissing me.

I kissed back passionately, all my frustrations at not being able to kiss her at the fair the previous day rising to the surface with the feeling of her lips on mine. They were even bigger and softer than I remembered. I sighed at the feeling, and reached up to tangle my fingers in her blonde hair. I was confused when I felt short hair instead. Huh. Did she cut it?

As a matter of fact, her hands on my face were bigger, rougher- and she smelled different, but _familiar_-

Wait a minute, she feels like-

I opened my eyes suddenly and pulled back. Green eyes stared at me in confusion.

"Britt, what the actual fuck?" I demanded, scrambling backwards on the bed. I raised the back of my hand to my mouth, unsure if I wanted to wipe away the taste or not. I felt… I don't even know how I felt. _Weird_. A little disgusted. A little violated. But mostly just creeped the fuck out. "What are you doing? Why are you _Sam_?"

Brittany, who was, for _whatever fucking reason_, in Sam's form, lowered her eyes and frowned slightly. "I apologize," she said in Sam's low tone. "I thought that- since you've had prior relations with Sam, it might be easier for you to have relations with me in his form."

I blinked for long moments, my brain processing slower than usual because I had just woken up. I placed my fingers on my temples and concentrated. Then it clicked. "Wait. _What_?" I asked, appalled. Brittany wanted to have sex with me- as _Sam_? Was I grasping that right? "Holy _fuck_," I said, feeling sick. I got up off the bed and paced for a moment before I felt her wrap her- _Sam's_- arms around me, and I cringed. "Britt, please change back, _please_," I begged. "_Shit_thisisso_weird_."

I was so completely confused in my head. Brittany wanted to have sex with me, that part was obvious. I knew that already. But for some reason she thought that I didn't want to have sex with her- well, the form she chose to spend her human time in, I guess. Which in reality was still half of Sam, anyways. Ugh, fuck, I'm confusing myself again.

Okay, so Brittany wanted to have sex with me. Got it.

But she thought I didn't want to have sex with _her_. So she changed into _Sam_- in an attempt to make me more _comfortable_?

Oh, what _even_.

If I wasn't so completely creeped out, I would feel bad. The poor girl was so concerned, she was willing to change forms to appease me, which in actuality was really undeniably sweet. I wasn't sure how she felt about her own human form- like, did she see herself as that form? Or was it just another form to her? I tried to think about forms I had acquired and been- and, admittedly, I did feel a certain sense of loyalty to them, like they were a part of me and I was a part of them. But I didn't _create_ those forms, the way Brittany created hers. Her form had shreds of her personal DNA in it- however _that_ worked- so it was a little more her than my forms were me.

I tensed when I felt arms slide around me again from behind, but relaxed when I realized they were Brittany's slim, toned ones.

"I'm sorry," she breathed into my ear. "I- I was only trying to-"

I turned in her arms and cupped her face, and kissed her. _Really_ kissed her. I tightened my grip, sliding my hand behind her neck to play with her hair, pulling her closer. I let my tongue meet hers in her mouth, evoking a moan from her, and her arms held me tighter. When I finally pulled back after long moments, I looked into her familiar, reassuring blue eyes.

"How could you think I don't want _you_?" I asked softly.

"You seem so- so, I- I don't-" she stammered, her cheeks turning pink. I leaned forward and captured her lips again, kissing her until she was breathless and I had to pause for a moment so she could breathe. We were pressed so close together I could feel her heart pounding in her chest against my own. I reached to gently stroke my thumb over her cheek, down to her bottom lip, which was trembling slightly. She kissed my thumb as I traced her lip with it, and I swallowed hard before I kissed her again, fiercely. I wanted to convey everything I felt for her- whatever it was that I felt. I wanted her to know that I wanted _her_, not Sam, not Finn, or any other guy she'd heard about me being with. I wanted her to know it was _only her_.

I hadn't realized we had moved backwards towards my bed until she was sitting down on the edge of it, breaking our kiss. She took rapid, shallow breaths, and her eyes had that familiar dark look that made my blood pound in my veins. Fuck, I wanted to push her down on the bed and kiss her for hours-

But my alarm chose that moment to go off, announcing that we still, despite everything, had to meet Sam and the others for our pre-Yeerk Pool meeting. I sighed and caught Brittany's dark gaze. We shared an unspoken look that we would continue this later, and I offered her a small smile, which she returned.

After I got dressed (rather teasingly, I might add- Brittany looked about ready to explode by the time we changed into our bird forms) we flew out to the corn fields together to greet the other Transformers, making small talk.

I wanted to ask her if she was scared, but it was a stupid question. Of course she was. We all were. None of us knew what we would find when we got down there, underground, to the Yeerk Pool. And none of us were prepared for what we actually found, either.

* * *

We had decided that the best way to sneak into the Yeerk Pool was not to sneak at all. Brilliant, right? We could pass as human-Controllers, and unless there was a Controller posted at the door to check our names off the Yeerk Pool VIP list, which there wasn't, nobody would know we didn't have Yeerks in our heads. We still decided to disguise ourselves as much as we could, just in case anyone we knew was down there. I left my hair down and sported glasses, to look the least like myself as possible. We'd agreed to split up into teams- this time I was with Brittany, who was also wearing glasses, even though she didn't understand them, since she had perfect vision- to search faster and worry about the rest later.

But once we got down there, descending the flights and flights of stairs, we were all completely miserable at the discovery that there were so many more Yeerks on Earth than we had ever imagined. Entering the school and slipping into the cabinet behind Sue's desk was easy. Even trudging down what seemed like a mile-long set of steep, rock steps was a breeze in comparison to dealing with our first good look at the Yeerk Pool.

It was huge, like the size of the biggest football stadium I had ever been in. Only it was underground. The roof above was way over our heads and solid rock. There were numerous other staircases around the cavern, leading to other entrances we didn't know about, obviously. And in the center of the floor of the underground cavern was what looked like a huge lake, filled with sludgy, greenish-gray water.

And Yeerks. Thousands of them.

There were two separate piers that lead out onto the water- a _loading_ and an _unloading_ dock, as I liked to think of it. Hosts would stroll up the _unloading_ dock, calm and collected. They would bend over the water, turn their heads to the side, and then a noise like when your shit hits the toilet bowl water would sound, and there was a brief pause. That was the most horrifying part to watch. The part where the host, the person inside, regains control of their own body.

And began screaming for help.

Of course, it was futile. There was no help coming. No one could hear them underground.

Well, except for us. But we had our hands full.

Once the host regained control, two Hork-Bajir would grab the poor fool and drag him or her over to what was, essentially, a cage. The _loading_ dock was the same, only in reverse.

Seeing the hosts in cages, listening to them scream, cry, and beg for help, made my stomach clench. I thought about Quinn's parents being in those cages. It made me want to vomit.

Brittany and I walked calmly around, taking in all the sights and sounds and, unbelievably, managing to remain calm and collected, though, I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't easy. I spent the time clenching and unclenching my fist and my jaw.

"San," Brittany breathed beside me. She gave me a worried look and I concentrated more on what my face looked like. I couldn't give myself away. A normal Controller wouldn't give two fucks about humans in cages crying and pleading for mercy.

I tore my gaze away from the cages and my eyes caught a group of humans lounging on couches and watching TV. They were laughing and eating popcorn and looking like they were having just a _swell_ time. "Who are those guys?" I asked Brittany in a whisper, furrowing my eyebrows.

Brittany's clear blue eyes met mine. She hesitated for a moment before she answered, "Those are the _voluntary_ Controllers."

"Wh... What?" I asked. Then I got it.

_Voluntary_.

"You mean there are scumbags who _volunteer_ to become infested?" I demanded in a harsh whisper, steering us over into a small, open room- a cafeteria, of sorts. It was mostly empty except for a Hork-Bajir and two human-Controllers.

Brittany nodded, keeping her expression neutral.

"Why would anyone do that?"

Brittany shrugged, but she turned to look at me, so that I would see the truth in her words. "Can you truly think of _no one_ who would want what the Yeerks offer them: power, acceptance, wealth? There are many humans who suffer, who feel as though they are nothing-"

I nodded, suddenly disgusted. "And New Directions offers them the opportunity to feel special. To feel like they belong to a family."

"Exactly," she said sadly. "The Yeerks prefer voluntary hosts- they don't fight back, and are easier to control. There are several species that have gone this route, including the Taxxons, and-"

"I swear it's not mine!" a young woman who was obviously a Bieber lesbian exclaimed from nearby, interrupting Brittany's and my conversation. She was one of the two human-Controllers in the otherwise empty room. She was dressed in a flannel button-up shirt and hipster jeans. She was being restrained by the Hork-Bajir, and an extremely short black-haired man was standing in front of her, shaking his head distastefully and holding her knapsack. He had a gun, that I recognized as a Dracon Beam, holstered at his side.

"And I suppose you don't know _how_ it got in your bag?" the man said arrogantly, pulling out a rubbermaid container and prying off the lid. He showed it to the girl, who looked terrified, and the Hork-Bajir restraining her shook his head in disappointment.

"I don't know what that is," she tried, desperately.

"It's oatmeal!" I whispered excitedly, spying the contents.

"Put her with the others," the man said, turning up his nose dramatically.

"Mr. Stanley! No!" the girl cried. "I don't know how that got there_, I promise you_-"

"You are a disgrace!" Mr. Stanley hissed. "Visser Seven will deal with you when he gets here!" He made a waving motion with his hand, and the Hork-Bajir dragged the girl, still swearing and pleading, out of the room and away to a separate cage across from the others. I followed her path with my eyes, and observed the people in the cage- they were behaving much as Sandy had, raving insanely and beating at themselves.

Mr. Stanley turned to us, his gaze disapproving. "I can't believe it- that's the fifth one this week."

"It's a shame to see self-respecting Yeerks reduced to crippling dependency on a simple human food," Brittany agreed, her tone hard and disgusted. I found myself nodding absently, surprised at how well Brittany was able to just snap into her role as a Controller. "It makes me sick."

"It's pathetic," I added, hoping I sounded even a fraction of how repulsed Brittany sounded.

Mr. Stanley seemed pleased with our responses. "Well, Visser Seven will deal with those fools, and they will wish they had never heard of the human food called _oatmeal_." He laughed falsely, but I could definitely hear his tone of fear. He was extremely nervous about the Visser's visit. He looked down at the container of oatmeal in his hands. Then he looked at me.

"I must prepare for the Visser's visit. Would you mind taking this over to the contraband locker?"

My eyes widened. Oh, fuck. I had no idea where that was.

"I trust you can take it there safely without being overcome by the desire to succumb to its addictive powers?" He said disdainfully with a roll of his eyes.

"Of course," Brittany said smoothly, moving forward to take the container from him. When she got within arm's reach, she raised her arm quickly and brought it down hard and fast in a chopping motion right at the base of Stanley's neck, near his deltoid. I didn't see the exact spot, but it was enough to make him crumple instantly to the ground, unconscious.

"Shit, Brittany!" I exclaimed in a hushed tone. "What was that for?"

"I do not know where the contraband locker is, and I'm assuming you do not, either," she said, bending down carefully and removing the Dracon Beam from the man's holster. She looked up at me and shrugged, as if that was answer enough.

"You're so smart," I murmured as she stood up and handed me the Dracon Beam. I held it carefully, inspecting it. It had a dial on it that looked like it was a power setting. I didn't recognize the numbers though. I looked around to see if we'd been spotted, and decided we needed to get the fuck out of there. We had agreed to meet Sam and the others back at the entrance in an hour, and we were running out of time.

"I've been watching the element channel," Brittany explained unnecessarily. "There is a show I enjoy very much, perhaps you've heard of it- _Xena: Warrior Princess_. Zeeena. Zee-nahhh. She employs many-"

"That's great, Britt, but we need to get the fuck out of here," I interrupted. She frowned slightly and I cursed how rude I sounded. "Sorry," I added. "I do want to hear about it- could you, maybe, tell me later?"

She brightened and nodded, grinning at me.

"Cool beans, let's go."

* * *

It didn't take long for the Yeerks to discover Mr. Stanley's prone body in the cafeteria. There was screaming and pandemonium once they had. People were on high alert, and most of them were downright terrified.

"Can you believe it?" One older lady demanded as she rushed by. "Andalites! HERE!"

I scoffed. "The nerve!"

She nodded and continued on her way. We ran into Team Sam a few moments later. He had Kurt and Sebastian with him. All of them were wearing glasses.

Oh, real clever, guys.

"We've gotta get out of here," Kurt breathed. "Visser Seven is here, and he-"

"Look, I _thought_ we agreed to call him a _she_," I accused.

"You people are _insane_," Sebastian hissed. "I am _not_ dying down in this scum pit! I never asked for this, and I don't-"

Oh, for fuck's sake, was this kid for _real?_ Going all coward on us when shit got slightly bad? He wouldn't make it through half the shit I'd been through. I glared at him. "Listen, you-"

"No one is going to _die_," Sam said pointedly, glaring first at me, then at Sebastian. "Because we are going to get out of here. We've just gotta make our way back over to the staircase, and-"

"Where did you get _that_?" Kurt demanded, spying my Dracon Beam.

I looked at it and shrugged. "Oh, Britt took it off some guy in the cafeteria."

Kurt looked impressed and Brittany smiled.

"Oh, fuck, I'm going to die," Sebastian moaned. "You guys can't get it together-"

"How about _you_ get it together, J. Bruce Ismay," I snarled, glaring straight into his eyes. Brittany placed a gentle hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off. This guy was seriously pressing my buttons.

Sebastian balled his fists. "Forget the Yeerks," he growled. "You and me, right now- any form."

I laughed. _"Seriously?_ You think that-"

"NO ONE MOVES," the voice of Visser Seven boomed out through a microphone. Instantly, every person in the room froze. "If anyone moves, KILL THEM. I can't believe the incompetence of you maggots! The smell of your failure is _revolting_! It's no wonder Andalites were able to sneak in so easily, but I guarantee they will not so easily _leave_."

She turned to two Hork-Bajir beside her. "Seal the exits! No one leaves until they have been cleared!" She shouted the words into the microphone, even though the Yeerks she was speaking to were standing right beside her. Ugh, how obnoxious. I would've stabbed her with my wrist blade if I was one of those Hork-Bajir. It'd be worth going to Yeerk Jail.

The Hork-Bajir instantly moved to follow Sue's orders, gathering a group of waiting Hork-Bajir and sending them to inspect the exits. Meanwhile, we stood sweating, running over ideas on how to escape. There was no way we could be recognized, and no way we could fight our way out as humans. We had to create some type of diversion, at least enough for us to transform and make a break for it.

_[The Dracon Beam,]_ Brittany said in my head. I looked sideways at her, carefully not making any sudden movements, lest I get stomped out by some ambitious Yeerk.

"You can still use thought-speak?" Really? That's the best I could come up with?

She chuckled softly. _[Of course, I'm still human…]_

Uh, okay. That made like no sense. I tried to focus on what she said. The Dracon Beam? Of course! I slowly turned to look at a human-Controller that wasn't far from me, maybe like, five feet. And suddenly, I had a plan.

"Get ready to run," I muttered to Sam and the others.

They didn't respond, but I could practically feel them tensing up in preparation.

I brought the Dracon Beam up slowly, hoping no one noticed, and aimed it at the random person beside me. I kind of felt bad for a fraction of a second, but hey, we needed to get the fuck out of there _yesterday_.

I took a steady, deep breath, and fingered the trigger.

"He moved! He's an ANDALITE!" I screamed suddenly. The man's eyes got real wide before I shot him with the Dracon Beam. I could feel the heat from the blast radiating from the man as I shot him with the gun. The light was slightly blinding up that close. The man screamed and fell to the ground. He didn't have a huge, smoking hole in him, which told me the gun was set to "stun" instead of "disintegrate." That was helpful information.

The Dracon Beam caused exactly what I wanted- total chaos. Every Controller in a twenty-foot radius of the man I'd shot began to scramble to get away, believing the man to be an Andalite. No one wanted to risk going up against that tail.

We took off, too, but to find somewhere to hide. No one noticed us in the pandemonium, they were too busy trying to preserve their own lives.

"SLOPPY, FREAKSHOW _BABIES!_ WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?! I SAID, _NO ONE M0VE_!" Sue boomed into the microphone.

"Over here!" Sam called, running behind a huge metal shed. It looked like a shed people kept their lawnmowers in. I almost laughed at the normalcy of it amidst the alien environment of the Yeerk Pool. We ran behind the shed, panting. My heart was beating, and adrenaline was pumping through my veins.

"Avatars, _quick,"_ Sam ordered, already beginning the change to gorilla.

Brittany was halfway to Andalite before I could even close my eyes. God, she was so _fast._

I focused on the cheetah, feeling the liquid power surging through my body. Claws sprang from my nails, my fingers turned rough, into pads. Fur sprouted along my body and I fell forward onto all fours. Whiskers shot out of my face, and I felt my teeth extending in my mouth as it stretched outwards slightly. My senses heightened, spine elongated into a maneuverable tail-

I flexed my powerful paws and looked around.

_Ohhhh, yeah_.

* * *

I don't really remember much of the fight. It went by in a kind of blur. I remember Sam tried to get in touch with Puck and Mercedes, but neither of them responded. I hoped that meant they had made it out before all the craziness started.

I was thankful no human-Controllers attempted to stop us. We didn't really like hurting humans- after all, we were in this to _save_ them, so killing them kind of defeated the purpose, even if they were controlled by Yeerks. Although, maiming and wounding was perfectly okay, if they shot at us.

Sue wisely kept her distance, but ordered her Hork-Bajir warriors to come after us. We cut them down, but we were only interested in escaping, so we avoided them more than anything.

_[Which staircase?]_ I asked as I leapt from the body of a Hork-Bajir I had just knocked over. Sam punched a huge sledgehammer-sized fist into another's face, knocking it back at least three feet.

_ [No clue,]_ he answered.

_[What?]_ Sebastian demanded. He was in the lion form he had acquired_. [You don't know which one it is?]_

Sam shrugged his massive gorilla shoulders.

_[We could just pick one, they all lead to the surface,]_ Kurt suggested.

FWAPP! FWAPP!

Brittany cut down a Hork-Bajir coming up behind us. It helps having four eyes sometimes, I guess_. [I agree with Kurt's suggestion,] _she said calmly.

_[Okay, then. Let's do _this_ one,]_ I said, looking up at the steep staircase that was about five yards from us.

_[It's as good as any,]_ Sam agreed.

_[Is this how you people operate every time?]_ Sebastian complained as he swiped at a human-Controller who was aiming a Dracon Beam at him. _[Barely escaping with your lives? This is ridiculous!]_

_[We haven't escaped _yet_,] _I pointed out brightly.

He turned his shaggy lion head to glare at me. It made my cheetah brain nervous. A cheetah would never win against a lion in a fight based on stats alone. In _any_ universe.

Kurt slithered his crocodile body between us. _[Just a reminder: I'm_ very_ interested in getting out of here.]_

_[Can that body climb stairs?]_ Brittany wondered.

_[We're about to find out, Britt,]_ he answered as he approached the first step, and, amazingly, hauled butt up it.

_[Come on,] _Sam called as he reached the steps.

I was hesitant to turn my back on Sebastian, but I knew I was faster than him. I charged up the steps, catching up with Brittany.

When we reached the top of the stairs, we transformed back to human, and walked calmly, albeit a little flustered and panting, out into the changing room of a Macy's.

I looked around in disbelief. No one paid any mind as four barefoot teenagers dressed in mismatched spandex and one girl dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with sneakers walked out of the Macy's and into the adjoining mall.

* * *

We met up with Puck and Mercedes later that night. They had actually made it back through Sue's cabinet on time, and, when we didn't appear, went back to wait for us at our usual meeting spot.

"Well that was a complete waste of time," Puck said. "We didn't find out a single thing."

"Not true- we found out that Macy's has an entrance to the Yeerk Pool," Kurt pointed out.

_[And we also discovered that the Yeerks are keeping a contraband locker full of oatmeal down at the Pool,]_ Brittany stated helpfully.

"Is it _instant_ oatmeal?" Puck joked.

"Yeah, we just don't know where," I said with a nod, ignoring Puck's dumb comment.

"Wait, _contraband locker?"_ Sam asked. At my affirmation he continued, "It was that shed we transformed behind. We overheard some Yeerks talking about it."

"The shed?" I asked incredulously. "That was _it?"_

"Yeah, didn't you see all the guards posted up in front of it?" Sebastian asked snidely, taunting me. I bit my cheek to keep from exploding at him. He was really getting on my nerves.

"No," I grated. "I was too busy thinking of ways to _save your ass_."

"While I do appreciate it, I totally could've gotten out of there on my own."

"Right," I snapped. "I'm sure."

"Anyways," Sam said, trying to disperse the quickly mounting tension, "if the Yeerks are keeping oatmeal in the shed, it makes our job a lot easier."

"But only if it's _instant,"_ Puck tried again. I rolled my eyes.

"Right," Mercedes agreed. She'd been quietly observing Sebastian the entire time, casting worried glances to Kurt every so often. "We just have to make another visit to the Yeerk Pool and get the _instant_ oatmeal from the shed to the actual pool."

"Simple," Sebastian said with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't forget the construction of the above-ground pool they are starting soon," I reminded. "Maybe it would be better if we just attempted to dump oatmeal in _that,_ somehow."

"I don't know how we would do that," Kurt said thoughtfully. "Or where we would get that much oatmeal. Honestly, the Yeerk Pool plan sounds easier, if only because the Yeerks have collected the oatmeal for us already."

"In any case, we don't have to figure anything out tonight," Sam said tiredly. "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted."

We all nodded in agreement.

"I can't wait to go home to my bed," Puck said, accompanied by a brief stretch.

"Must be nice," Sebastian shot bitterly. He glared at Sam as if _he'd_ said the offensive thing, and then looked away. Puck looked guilty for a moment, but come on, it was _so_ not our fault that Sebastian had to sleep out in a shack in the woods. At least he _had_ a shack. He could be sleeping in a cage.

At the Yeerk Pool.

"Sorry," Kurt apologized. "I'd offer you to stay at my house, since we have a spare bedroom, but we can't risk Finn recognizing you."

"Right," Sebastian said sullenly.

It was quiet for a moment before Mercedes spoke. "Okay, well, I've gotta get up early in the morning."

I nodded. "Yeah, me too." I looked at Brittany, asking her a silent question with my eyes. Was she going to escort me home like she did on most nights?

She nodded slightly in response, smiling with her eyes. I smiled back. Sebastian glared at all of us before he turned away.

"Well, good night," he muttered, his tone biting. He stomped off through the woods, and Sam looked meaningfully at Kurt.

Kurt had Sebastian Watch the first half of the night, and Puck had the second half, since Brittany had to watch him all day the next day. It was inconvenient for us to have to keep on watching him, but the alternative was worse.

Kurt transformed into his hawk form and flew off after Sebastian silently.

I watched him go before I transformed into my own bird form and headed off in the direction of my house, with Brittany's duck following close behind.

* * *

I was hyper aware of Brittany's gaze on me as I changed for bed. Ordinarily I would be creeped out by someone watching me do mundane things all the time, but her fascination and the look of reverence and desire in her blue eyes as she watched me made me feel comfortable and jittery at the same time.

She was sitting on the edge of my bed, and I moved closer to her, standing between her knees. I reached out to run a hand through her silky blonde hair, and she closed her eyes at my touch. She leaned her head forward, resting her forehead on my clothed stomach. I continued to stroke through her hair, using my other hand to rub soothing circles on her shoulder blade. After a moment, she pressed her lips to my stomach through my shirt, and I felt my breath hitch at the light touch.

"Brittany," I whispered, my touch on her shoulder growing just the slightest bit more firm. She moaned at the pressure and kissed my stomach harder, and I felt my insides twitch in response. She reached up with one hand and slowly pushed the hem of my shirt up, exposing the skin of my stomach to her. My breath quickened, coming in shaky, rapid pants. My abs tightened as I felt her moist, soft lips press against them, and I gasped. She pressed gentle, open-mouthed kisses along my stomach and I gripped her hair tightly, holding her to me but at the same time trying to find the strength to push her away.

Her tongue darted out and traced a quick line just above the waistband of my sleep shorts and I bit my lip to keep from moaning out loud. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back slightly in an attempt to focus.

I was losing it. My defenses were crumbling, and I was going to give in long before I ever sorted out anything about how I felt. There was no way I could keep resisting that _tongue-_

This time I did moan as she gently dragged her teeth along the V of my hips, and my body jerked forward slightly, out of my control, at the feeling. When she began to suck lightly, I scratched my nails at her shoulder blade and pulled her head tighter to my body, tightening my grip on her hair even further, so that I was nearly pulling at it. I imagined her sucking elsewhere on my body and felt my center ache at the thought.

God, why did she have to be so good with her _mouth-_

Her other hand slid around to the small of my back, holding me in place while the hand holding the hem of my shirt up began to sneak its way up my ribs. Her fingertips grazed the underside of my breast and I bit my lip in anticipation, struggling with my thoughts.

Was I going to let her? Was I going to let her touch-

"F-fuck," I whimpered as her hand fully cupped my breast. I felt my nipple hardening against her palm instantly as she squeezed it softly, hesitantly. She pulled her head back a little to catch my eyes. Her eyes were dark and smoldering, with a slight hint of confusion, and she was breathing almost as hard as I was. I wanted to climb into her lap, I wanted to press my aching center against her and just- _fuck-_

She stood up abruptly, still groping my breast, and kissed me fiercely. I openly moaned in her mouth, my hips pressing forward against her, searching for any sort of friction. I grew frustrated when I found none, growling in her mouth and biting her lower lip. She squeezed my breast roughly in response, and I tugged on her hair. My nails dug into her shoulder, pulling her impossibly closer to me. She kissed me hard, her warm palm pressing into my lower back, keeping our hips together, which was doing absolutely _nothing_ for me.

We kissed for long moments, eventually slowing it down. Her hand slid out from under my shirt and just held me around my waist. My blood was still pounding, but I could feel the exhaustion creeping into my movements. I know Brittany was exhausted, too- she had been watching Sebastian non-stop. As much as I wanted to, now was not the time.

When we finally broke, I rested my forehead against hers.

"I missed this," she whispered, smiling gently at me and shaking her head to indicate that she was talking about the intimacy of our foreheads. Of all things.

"Me, too," I laughed slightly, trying to get control over my racing heart and rapid breathing. My skin felt like it was on fire, like my whole body was throbbing. I swallowed thickly and gazed longingly into her eyes. "Tomorrow," I breathed. "After school. We'll go get dinner, and come home, and-" She kissed me, slowly, sucking my bottom lip and making me tremble at how intense my desire for her was in that moment. She had such control over my body, it was a little scary. Like being in a new form where the instincts of the animal take over your human brain, only this was my own body. Her thumb grazed the bare skin of my stomach between my shirt and shorts again and I moaned embarrasingly loudly into her mouth.

"It's all I'll be thinking about between now and then," Brittany promised me in a breathy whisper. She kissed me again, softly, and pulled away. She moved to lift the covers of my bed, and I climbed under them, snuggling down into my pillow. She reached up to gently stroke the hair from my forehead, then leaned down and pressed a firm kiss there.

"Good night, San," she breathed against my skin.

"Good night, Britt…"

After she left, I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't.

I couldn't help it. I was too wound up. And yeah, I'll admit it- I touched myself. I was so turned on, it didn't take much until I was crying out my release into my pillow, which smelled like her, for whatever reason. I snuggled into the pillow, shivering, and hugged it, wishing it was Brittany.

Even if it was, she would have to change back eventually, and that thought saddened me. Why did there have to be a time limit? Why couldn't we just hang out in a form, and then when we were ready, just change back? It was selfish of me to even hope that Brittany might want to remain human for longer than two hours- after all, we'd barely even known each other for a couple of months. And I still, despite everything, knew nothing about her reasons for being on Earth to begin with.

I was finding, though, that the more time I spent with her, the less I cared about that particular fact.

I still wished I was holding her instead of my pillow.

* * *

I must've fallen asleep thinking about it, because I woke up with a start.

Someone was calling my name, who was it?

_ [Santana!]_

"What?" I rasped out, groggily. I sat up, pulling a hand through my hair and blinking into the darkness. A hawk was silhouetted perched on my desk chair, the moon shining brightly through my open window. I looked at my clock- it was 12:43am.

_[Santana, get up,]_ Kurt pleaded desperately.

His tone alerted me immediately that something was not right. My stomach flipped in fear and my heart sped up, anxious. "What's happened?" I whispered as I climbed out of bed.

_[It's Sebastian,]_ he said bitterly. My stomach dropped.

"What about him?" I demanded as I stripped off my outer clothing and focused on the Mississippi Kite DNA inside me.

_[He's turned on us.]_

"What! That little bitchlet-" my vocal cords chose that moment to transition to that of the bird's, which was probably a good thing, seeing as how what I had to say wasn't very pleasant. The rest of my words came out squawks.

_[He… He's gone after the blue box,]_ Kurt continued, taking flight and exiting out my window. _[Sam's gone after him, and we-]_

_[Wait a muinute,]_ I said, flapping to follow Kurt out into the night and narrowing my now-fully-bird eyes. _[The blue box? _Brittany_ had the blue box.]_

Kurt hesitated. Oh fuck. I couldn't think about what that meant. _[Yeah…]_

I felt dizzy. My vision blurred, and my wings faltered. _[Kurt, is Brittany-]_

_[I don't know,]_ Kurt told me gently. _[I don't know what happened. I saw Sebastian leave and went to find Sam. He went after them, but told me to come get you.]_

I didn't say anything. I couldn't.

I had to keep my shit together. I could already feel the rage creeping up on me.

I followed Kurt as we attempted to track down Sebastian. Kurt had spent the most time with him, besides Brittany, so he knew better than most what might be going through that kid's head.

All I could think about was Brittany- was she hurt? Did Sebastian hurt her?

Could he have killed-

No. There's no way. I couldn't think like that. Brittany could handle her shit.

That thought was the only thing that kept me sane as we flew over the mall, searching for any sign of Sam, Brittany, or Sebastian.

_[There!]_ Kurt said, diving down to the roof. There was a huge skylight that made up part of the roof over the center of the mall- you know, where they put a fountain and a big cheesy display to meet Santa or the Easter Bunny or whomever around the holidays?

The glass was broken.

We dove down into the mall, which was dark, lit only by bare minimum security lighting. It was eerily quiet, but my predator bird senses picked up the sound of heavy, gargled breaths. My heart nearly stopped at the sound.

Kurt and I flew silently, following the path of destruction and streaks of blood, and what we saw shocked both of us.

Sam, in gorilla form, was lying on his stomach in a pool of dark blood that was slowly expanding outwards.

And standing near him, looking like Scar on Pride Rock, was Sebastian the Lion.

_[Sam!]_ Kurt cried, swooping down. _[Sam, _transform_! TRANSFORM!]_

Sam didn't respond.

Sebastian eyed us warily; then, he calmly walked away.

_[Kurt, get Mercedes,]_ I said slowly.

_[What?]_ He said, panicked. _[What about Sam? What about _you_?]_

_[Get. Mercedes,]_ I said, my tone deadly.

Kurt didn't respond, but he flapped hard to gain altitude, maneuvering out of the broken skylight.

I circled slowly down to the floor of the mall, landing near Sam's still form. His breathing was labored, and I could hear the blood in his lungs. He wouldn't last much longer unless he regained consciousness and transformed back. And even then, none of us had ever been that badly hurt before. We hadn't pushed our powers that much- Sam might be beyond repair.

Sebastian was nearby. If Sam was dead- if Brittany was dead- if I was going to die- then I was at least going to stop this fucker.

I swallowed at the thought. I had never killed another human before. I knew it was going to happen eventually, we were in a war- I just didn't think it would go down like this.

But then- if Sebastian had killed Brittany, there was no telling what I was capable of.

I steeled myself, and felt nothing but cold.

* * *

**Aw shit! Cliffhanger!**

**Merging plot lines like a boss. :)~**

**The only thing worse than your OTP never getting together is your OTP getting together, having ZERO conversations, and then BREAKING UP. UGH.**

**If Brittana breaks up this week, you know where to find me.**

**Dead.**

**Thanks for reading! Review if you feel like it, I may update next chapter from the grave. :)**


	12. Mercy

**I'm alive... but barely. **

**I'm so glad I wrote this whole chapter before Thursday, because I spent the past four days wallowing in a state of depression. Srsly, I feel like _I'm_ the one who got dumped.**

**But have no fear- Brittana is SO ON. FOREVER. They are endgame, and because of the-episode-that-shall-not-be-named, I am shipping them harder than _ever,_ and I hope you all will continue to hang in there and do the same. They will find their way back to each other, okay?**

**Okay.**

**In other news, funny story- my word count goal is right around 5k per chapter. And uh. With the exception of the first three chapters, I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN CLOSE TO THAT GOAL. I just keep typing and typing! Sheesh. Story of my life! :B**

**Another funny story- this was originally supposed to be a three-chapter crack!fic. You can see _that _totally happened. It's somehow _transformed_ (OH DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!) into the epic monstrosity that it is now. I'm plotted out to about 20 or so chapters. I guess that's good? But it's really putting a damper on all the smutty GKM one-shots I want to write. Eh well. We will get there eventually! 8)~**

**Anyways. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, etc. etc. You guys are, as usual, _awesome!_ **

**This chapter gets a little heavy. Heed the M rating, you kids. **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

I'd never felt more anxious in my life. My stomach was tying itself in knots as I stood, feeling completely out of place, in the darkened mall. Sam was barely breathing beside me, and Sebastian was somewhere in the shadows, waiting for me, in lion form. I couldn't even think about Brittany, or I'd lose what little control I had over my emotions.

_Focus on the threat. _

I was just a human girl.

A completely _enraged_ human girl.

"Sam," I whispered urgently, trying not to draw Sebastian's attention. I didn't think he was weasel enough to come after me while I was a human, but I also didn't think he would ever hurt Sam as badly as he had. Sam still lay unmoving, and I knew I couldn't do anything for him in the form I was currently in.

I had to change, anyways, if I was going to take on Sebastian. But I didn't have anything that could defeat a lion. Taurus the Bull could _defend_ himself, maybe- and even probably damage Sebastian quite a bit. But not kill him. And my cheetah didn't have the kind of power or weight to handle a full-grown male lion.

I would have to use my superior brains and speed to defeat him.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and concentrated on becoming the cheetah.

Once completely transformed, I padded carefully over to Sam. I could smell, somehow, that he was still alive, but the scent of his blood was completely overpowering. I could hear his heartbeat struggling to pump blood to the rest of his body, but it was leaking out steadily, _uselessly_, onto the floor...

_[Sam, get the _fuck_ up,] _I told him angrily. He couldn't die. I needed him. He was my friend, and I _cared_ about him, and people I cared about, well, they couldn't just go off and _die_-

_[NOW!]_ I seethed, drawing back my paw and swatting him hard in the face. I left scratches on his rubbery cheek, but I saw his eyelids flutter weakly, and my heart skipped a hopeful beat.

He groaned faintly. But he was conscious!

_[Sam!]_ I said. _[You need to transform! You need to do it _now_!]_

_[Uhh… ca… f… so we…k,]_ he muttered, his thoughts scattered.

_[Don't care,]_ I growled angrily_. [Find the strength and change. Focus. Think about those guppy lips, that Beiber hair... Those ripped abs...]_ I felt awkward talking about Sam's body, but I was determined to make him survive. And I was going to do whatever it took to ensure that happened, even if it involved describing him in great detail so that he could focus. To my relief, I saw the changes slowly starting to happen. He was shrinking, but _so sluggishly_. At this rate, he was going to die before he made it back to human.

_[Come on, Sam, faster, _please_,] _I pleaded, sounding just a bit desperate.

Wanky.

_ Okay, Santana, let's focus here. _

_ [Santana!]_ Kurt called, and I nearly collapsed with relief. Kurt was back with Mercedes. She was so much better with emotional crap than I was. She would talk Sam through the rest of his transformation.

I had other things to focus on.

_[Oh, my God!]_ Mercedes cried as she landed beside Sam_. [Oh, my God! Sam! Oh, please, no-]_

_[He's alive, but he won't be for long if he doesn't change. You need to talk him through it,] _I said, my tone hard and emotionless. Mercedes immediately began to privately coach Sam through his transformation, and I saw his changes happening a lot faster. I was relieved for a moment. That was one weight off of my shoulders.

But now I had a job to do. I turned away.

_[Santana…]_ Kurt started.

I shook my cheetah head. _[I'm going after Sebastian.]_ My tone left no room for argument.

_[Be careful,]_ Kurt said sincerely.

I didn't answer his sentiment. 'Careful' was not on my list of things to do. I had one goal, and one goal only- _stop Sebastian_. So instead, I whispered, _[Take care of_ them.]

He nodded his hawk's head, and I peered into the darkness.

Time to find my prey.

* * *

The mall was an entirely different place at night. It was dark and shrouded in shadows, and was extremely foreboding and scary, because I had no clue where Sebastian was lurking. The cheetah part of my brain was on edge- it didn't recognize any of the manmade foreignness of the mall, and it was too dark to really see properly. My cheetah eyes could see extremely well, farther and better than my human eyes, in the _daytime_. But the cheetah was diurnal- which meant my night vision was extremely poor, giving Sebastian's lion an advantage. My hearing, however, was greater than both a lion and a human, and it was primarily what I used to track Sebastian. I heard what sounded like a small tinkle of broken glass in the far distance, and I carefully made my way towards the noise.

I stayed in the shadows, creeping carefully near the walls and staying away from the middle of the hall. If I was out in the open, Sebastian would spot me, and I would lose the advantage of surprise, which was really the only advantage I had. I could hear all sorts of things- the air conditioner rumbling to life far above my head, the sound of cars on the highway outside- the sounds of Sam and the others moving- and the steady intake of Sebastian's breathing. I focused on that sound, and not on the fact that he was larger, stronger, and better equipped to fight than I was, as I slinked steadily towards him.

I imagined what I would do when I found him as I took careful, quiet steps. I imagined digging my claws into him, tearing out his throat with my teeth, feeling his windpipe collapse, his struggled breaths slowly ceasing as I crushed it in my strong jaws. My cheetah brain liked those thoughts a _lot_- after all, it's what cheetahs did. They killed animals all the time. Definitely not _lions_- but there was no argument from my cheetah brain on the method as I focused on Sebastian as my prey.

He couldn't have killed Brittany. Brittany was far too strong, too fast, too _smart_-

But what if he _had_?

The idea made my heart feel like it was being torn into pieces. I cared about Brittany more than I had ever cared about anyone. The realization shocked me, but I had recently accepted the path I was on. I knew my feelings would, eventually, lead to love. It was only natural, with how much time we spent together, our romantic activities, and the way she made me _feel_-

Which is why she couldn't be dead. Even if it _was_ probable.

The lion outweighed her and was far stronger. She was just a deer to him in her normal form, an _alien_ deer, even with her deadly tail. And if she had been _human-_

I felt my throat close up with emotion, my heart clenching, even as a cheetah. No, he couldn't have hurt her as a human. Brittany hadn't done a _thing_ to him-

_Neither had Sam_, I reminded myself bitterly. I grew angrier at the thought, my insides becoming cold, empty. It was a weird feeling as a cheetah. But as I dwelled on what I had to do, I found myself coming to a realization that did not bother me:

If Sebastian had killed Brittany, I was going to make him _suffer._

* * *

As I crept closer, I honed in on where the broken glass sounds were coming from- Sebastian was on the second story of the mall, and from the noise, it seemed like he had broken into the jewelry shop located there.

_Are you kidding me?_ I thought to myself.

I carefully skulked up the nearby staircase, peeking my head around the corner and at the broken glass of the jewelers' storefront. There had to be an alarm of some type, which meant cops would be converging on this place really soon. I had to do this fast.

Just then, Sebastian padded out of the store, his gait casual. In his mouth was a sack, which I assumed was filled with jewelry. I hunkered down behind the corner, but it was too late.

He had spotted me.

I swear I saw him smile, even as a lion.

_[Well, well, Santana,]_ He said, obviously pleased to see me. Why wouldn't he be? I was outmatched.

I stepped out from behind the corner and faced him. I was too angry to be scared, but standing near to him reminded me of how much bigger he was.

_[Bitchlet,]_ I greeted angrily with a slight nod. My tail flicked nervously behind me.

_[Always with an insult,]_ he said, shaking his head, causing his shaggy mane to vibrate.

_[Yeah, well, I regret to inform you, I don't have many_ nice_ words for you,]_ I snarled. _[And actually, no, I don't regret it at all after what you've done.]_

_[Ah, yes, I'm sorry about that. But I needed the blue box, and I knew Sam was never going to let me have it. It_ is_ a shame about your friend Brittany, though.]_

I felt my anger coursing through me, consuming me_. [What. Did. You. Do,]_ I growled viciously. I felt myself lowering into a crouch instinctively, as if I was going to pounce on him. Stupid move. There was no way I could go up against a lion. But I didn't care.

He didn't seem fazed. He knew I couldn't take him on as a cheetah. _[She got in my way,]_ he said coldly_. [I'm taking the blue box, and-]_

_[And what?]_ I demanded. _[You think you can bargain with the Yeerks for your parents? They don't make deals, fuckface.]_

His lion face twisted into a snarl, and I knew I'd hit close to home. _[No,]_ he argued.

I laughed. _[Yeah, right. Your parents are in a cage, just like the ones we saw down in the Yeerk Pool, probably begging for their lives,]_ I taunted. I could hear his breathing picking up, I knew I was affecting him. Good. _[They're helpless now, just like YOU-]_

_[Shut up!]_ he screamed. _[I'll figure something out! I'll be smarter than them, it'll work-]_ He sounded almost desperate by the time he finished.

_[And then _you'll_ be in a cage, too.]_

He paused. _[And so will you- if I'm in a cage, you're in a cage. The Yeerks will find out about you as well.]_

_[Oh, that's not going to happen,]_ I said, my tone deadly as I bared my fangs. _[Because I'm about to take care of that little problem, myself- right now.]_

_[You think you stand a _chance_ against me? In _that form_? Talk sense, Santana,]_ he laughed.

_[We'll see.]_

He dropped the sack of stolen jewelry on the ground and opened his mouth in return, revealing his_ much longer_ teeth. _[Come on, then!]_ he snarled, and in the next second, he lunged at me.

He was fast, but I was _so much faster_. I leapt to the side and took off down the hall.

_[Come catch me, Twink,]_ I sneered.

He pursued me, but there was no way he could ever catch up. I could outrun him, but for how long? Cheetahs weren't built for long distances, and it wouldn't get me any closer to my goal of stopping him. Eventually he would give up chasing me. I briefly wondered how much longer he had in that form before he became trapped.

_[You're such a pussy,]_ he called from down the hall. _[You won't turn and face me because you know I'll tear you apart, just like Sam, just like Brittany-]_

_[Don't you DARE,]_ I roared. My cheetah didn't have the physical capability to roar, but it hissed instead, and I felt the long hairs at the base of my neck standing on end, my black tufted ears flattening against my skull.

_[Aww, you have feelings for her, don't you?]_ He cooed menacingly_. [I knew it. That's _pathetic_. She's an alien. And now she's _dead_.]_

I felt my blood run cold and I faltered slightly. _[No, she's not,]_ I whispered. I closed my eyes in anguish.

He shrugged his massive lion shoulders. _[She might not be, but then again, who knows? She probably is by now. I didn't exactly leave her in the best of health.]_

No. No way. She couldn't be.

I didn't- I didn't get to _tell_ her-

I felt the anguish and anger overtaking me. My goal flashed in my brain again-_ stop Sebastian_- and I coiled all of my muscles in preparation to do just that.

In one quick movement, I whirled and pounced on Sebastian, surprising him. He growled in shock as I attempted to get into close range with him. I lunged for his throat, but there was no way I could follow my cheetah instincts that were urging me to tear it out- his thick mane protected him, and my fangs weren't long enough to penetrate it-

With a mighty roar, Sebastian threw me off him, and I slid across the floor on my stomach. I dug my blunt back claws in, scrabbling to find purchase on the tile, and lunged again, hissing in anger. My cheetah brain was on high alert- every shift in his movement was noticed, and my body adjusted automatically. I was faster, and I had more experience in my cheetah form than he did in his lion form; I had been through more fights- but one hit from him and, experienced or not, I was going to be severely hurt.

We danced a weird dance; I would move in, and try to get in behind him, to bite his legs, and he would whirl quickly to try and slash me. We were almost going in circles, back and forth, back and forth. I managed to avoid him for a good minute- but I could feel my body rapidly tiring. I couldn't last much longer, and his body had more strength and stamina. I had to think of something, _quick_-

I cried out in pain as his claws gouged across my rear flank, leaving deep gashes in my skin. Blood poured out from the wound, and I missed my next step. I had just enough time to panic and think _Oh, shit_ before he was on me, knocking me back with another hard swipe of his paws. Claws scraped across my jaw, and the force of the blow disoriented me. I was dizzy, my vission blurred, and my head was pounding, but another hard blow from him connected and I was down.

I landed on my back and slid, but he was already coming for me. Coming for my throat. I raised my paws up to protect my face in a very un-cheetah-like move, but it left my belly exposed. He towered over me, and snapped at my front legs, managing to bite into one before I clawed at his face with my free paw. He lifted up to swipe his longer, sharper lion claws at me, and I clenched my teeth and hissed in agony as he literally shredded my front legs. It was incredibly painful. I felt sick from it.

I had to do something quickly, or I'd be too damaged to do anything. It was all happening so fast. Think. _Think_. I still had my back paws. I tried to remember something, _anything_ I'd learned that might help me. What had I learned in my Rape Defense class? I had loathed going at the time, but my father had made me go after an influx of rape patients at the hospital-

An idea sprang to my mind. It was all I had-

I only had one chance at this-

I lowered my paws slightly, feigning fatigue (although to be perfectly honest I don't think I was _feigning_ it- my cheetah body was panting, even with the adrenaline flowing through me,) and exposing my white throat.

He went for it.

As he lunged, I quickly and violently jabbed the blunt claws on my front paws into his eyes as hard as I could. At the same time, I raised my back paws up and kicked into his ribs, digging my rear claws into him as well.

He roared in pain and surprise, stumbling back, but I didn't let go, tearing into him with my back claws and squeezing as hard as I could into his eyes, ensuring I blinded him. Hot blood gushed onto my paws. I held on tighter. He tossed his head, and through sheer strength alone managed to finally induce me to let go; he staggered away, bleeding heavily.

He _had_ to transform now, or he would eventually die- but I wasn't letting him go.

No. Not that easily.

I climbed shakily to my feet, my limbs screaming in pain, and pounced forward, biting into his hind leg. I squeezed hard with my jaws as he screamed in pain, both in my mind as Sebastian and out loud as the lion. But I didn't let go- I relished in his screaming. Did Brittany scream? Did Sam? Angrily, I sank my teeth into his leg harder, breaking it, twisting my head. I felt bones crunching in my mouth, heard the sickening snap of his tendons. I tasted his blood.

But I wasn't done.

_[Where's Brittany?]_ I demanded icily as he struggled weakly to shake me off. I let go of his leg and instead jumped onto his back, tackling him. I gouged his back with my claws, digging them in deep. He collapsed to the ground, but still resisted weakly.

My legs were throbbing in pain from the damage he'd done. I'd lost a lot of blood. I could feel it pouring into my eyes, running down my legs. We were both covered in it. I felt my strength waning but _no way_ was I giving up. _[Where is she?]_ I demanded again, pushing harder into him.

_[Fuck,]_ he wailed. _[You bitch, you can't-]_

_[Sure can, unless you want to tell me where Brittany is, you filthy piece of-]_

_[AAAGGH!]_ he screamed. I forced my claws in deeper. I felt them hit bone.

His spine.

_[Tell me,]_ I seethed. I was growing impatient. He was going to die, _certainly_- but first he was going to tell me where Brittany was.

_[Auugh! She's- she's at-]_

_[I'm listening,]_ I told him.

_[She's in the woods, still; sh-she was unconscious when I left!]_

I retracted from him, and his head collapsed onto the ground. He panted feebly, but I could care less. He left her unconscious. She was unconscious because he had hurt her so badly, like Sam. I felt sick. I glared at Sebastian as he writhed weakly in his own blood. I wanted to kill him, but Brittany was more important. She was always more important. So instead, I growled, the noise coming up from deep in my chest, and smacked his muzzle for good measure. The force of the blow made him fall onto his side, and I turned away in disgust and tried to focus on my hazy thoughts, but it was getting harder to grasp any of them.

Brittany might still be alive. Brittany was only unconscious.

But alive. Not dead.

If I could just _reach_ her-

I had to make it back to the skylight. _Yeah, that's it._ I sprang into a run.

Except-

I didn't immediately take off. In fact, I staggered instead. I realized suddenly that maybe I was more badly hurt than I thought. _Huh._ My rear leg was numb, and my vision was definitely getting blurry around the edges. My muscles were shaking. I felt pain, but it was in a dull, throbbing, background sort of way.

But _Brittany_-

_[Santana, you need to transform!] _

Why was Wheezy talking to me? I needed to get to Brittany, Brittany was _hurt_-

_[We will, but you need to change, now!]_

Hold up. Was she reading my mind?

_[Yes- now change to human! Do it _now_!]_

_[Okay, okay,]_ I mumbled weakly.

I focused on myself, on my caramel skin, my own toned legs, my brown eyes, my flat stomach, and after a few moments, I laid there as my normal human self, gasping and completely winded. I could barely keep my eyes open but I sat up, my muscles screaming, feeling like I had been run over by a truck. I was so exhausted that I was trembling. But I _had_ to get up-

_[Stay down,]_ Kurt said gently.

_[No fucking chance,]_ I growled as I climbed shakily to my feet. What was the fastest way to get to Brittany? Bird, or back to cheetah?

My delusional brain decided cheetah was faster. 70mph was a good speed, and I'd worry about the rest later. _Right._ I began to change again. I was running on fumes, on pure adrenaline, but the thought of Brittany somewhere, hurt, was really driving me on.

_[Santana,] _Kurt insisted, his tone one of firm disbelief_. [You can't be serious.]_

_[Dead serious. Why don't you do me a favor and finish off Sebastian for me,]_ I mumbled as I completed my cheetah transformation. _[Brittany's hurt, and nothing else matters right now.]_

_[Brittany's _fine_, if you could just-]_

_[_You_ can just fucking _blow me_!]_ I snarled. No way was I letting her die. _No way. _

I hissed at him, now fully cheetah, so that he'd know I meant business. I turned to sprint away, and got as far as the stairs, when I saw a flash of lavender in the distance.

My heart stopped.

Brittany, in Andalite form. She stood next to Sam, who was fully human and sitting on the floor, leaning against a huge, potted tree. Puck was a wolf, guarding Sam's side. I was relieved that he'd made it, but honestly I couldn't tear my eyes away from Brittany. After a moment, her wandering eyes finally noticed me, and she turned to look at me fully.

_[Santana?]_ She asked hesitantly, her thought-speak sounding relieved. _[Are you all right?]_

_[Britt. _Brittany_,]_ I said. My heart was pounding. I could barely stand.

_ She's not dead. _

_[Britt!]_ I bounded down the steps and ran towards her, reaching her in less than two seconds. I was so elated, it spilled over into my cheetah brain as well and I couldn't resist rubbing my face against Brittany's front leg the second I reached her.

She stared down at me with all four eyes, looking genuinely surprised and pleased by my affectionate cat behavior. I suddenly realized I was purring. Like, _literally_ purring. Embarrassed, I pulled back and turned my head.

I didn't stop purring, though.

_[Sorry,]_ I said sheepishly. If cheetahs could blush, I'd be scarlet red_. [Are you hurt?]_ I circled her quickly, inspecting her for myself. Still purring like a moron_. [If he hurt you, I swear I'll-]_

_[He did,]_ she admitted. _[But I'm all right,]_ she reassured before I could turn and run back up the stairs to finish Sebastian off out of fury at her statement. She reached down with her Andalite hand and petted my head. I purred louder at her unexpected touch. _[Sebastian got the cube, though.]_

_[No, he's-]_

I heard hushed voices outside. Police voices. We had to finish this quickly.

I sighed. I had to go finish what I started. Brittany was safe, but Sebastian needed to be dealt with. Now that I knew Brittany was okay, I lost a lot of my desire to kill him. But he had still hurt her, and that, to me, was unforgiveable.

I heard fluttering and looked up, just as Sebastian's crow tore up through the skylight. Kurt came seconds behind him, but instead of following, he landed on the edge of the large pot that Sam was leaning on.

_[Kurt!]_ I exploded. _[You let him get away?]_

_[Santana, what did you expect? Did you honestly think I could've killed him, even as a lion?]_

I sighed irritably, annoyed. _[So, what- you expect _me_ to do all your dirty work? Is that it? Because you don't want to get your _own_ hands dirty?]_

_[No, that's not it,]_ Kurt argued, but he didn't even sound convinced, himself.

_[Then what is it?]_ I demanded_. [Because that's exactly what it seems like!]_

_[We have a plan,]_ Mercedes said quietly. I hadn't even noticed she'd approached. She was an owl, and owls are silent. _[But we'll have to discuss it on the way, because the police are inside the building and they will be on us momentarily.]_

I was already so tired, but I concentrated my racing thoughts and became human once again. We all shifted to bird forms, except for Mercedes and Kurt, who were already transformed. I don't know where I found the strength to flap my wings in the dead air to get out through that skylight, but the six of us flew up through the broken hole in the glass just as the police reached the spot we had just occupied.

On the way back to our neighborhood, Mercedes filled me in on the plan. I can't say it was a bad one. It was a solution to our problem, but I knew from experience that our plans almost always ended in Plan B, so as she told me the details of what they had decided to do with Sebastian while I had been getting my ass handed to me, I made my own plan on how I was going to destroy him if their plan failed.

* * *

It was 2:47am by the time Brittany and I made it home. I refused to let her stay out in the woods; I was still too freaked out at the fact that I had almost lost her. I was worried that Sebastian might seek retribution for his injured pride- he knew I had feelings for Brittany, and that scared me. I didn't want her to end up hurt because of me.

Then, because I was paranoid, I shut my window tightly and shoved a towel into the space beneath my door and the carpet. I didn't want Sebastian sneaking into my room while I was asleep, and if he was already in it, I didn't want him spying on me and creeping away undetected. I highly doubted he was in my room, though- I'm pretty sure he wasn't ready to tango with me again so soon. Truthfully, I wasn't sure I could win against him a second time.

Brittany shifted to human at my request, because I wanted to hug her. I spent long moments just standing there holding her and assuring myself that she was _alive_, that she was all right. I buried my face in her neck and inhaled her scent, letting it comfort and calm my still-racing heart. She stroked up and down my back soothingly, playing with the ends of my hair and rubbing gentle circles on the back of my neck with her thumb.

"San, it's okay, I'm okay," she assured me in a soft whisper. I only held her tighter.

I had to face the reality that we were in a war. This wasn't the last time Brittany would ever be hurt- in fact, there were pretty big odds stacked up in favor of her being hurt repeatedly in the future. She could get killed at any time. _I_ could get killed at any time.

And if that was the case, then I had to make sure that she knew- that she knew how I-

"Britt," I said softly, pulling back to look in her eyes. She immediately reached up to cup my cheek, and I leaned into her touch, bracing myself.

I had to do it.

I searched her blue eyes. The only light in the room was from my bedside lamp, casting a low glow over the room and shadows over her pale face. My drawn curtains drowned out the moonlight, but the lamp light reflected in her eyes, making them sparkle. She was completely open to my searching gaze, her emotions clearly written in her expression- adoration, desire... _love? _Was I being too hopeful?

I swallowed. Now or never.

"I- I'm in love with you."

Her eyes went from showing complete happiness to widening in surprise. She dropped her hand from my face and took half a step backwards. I bit my lip. Fuck. Her reaction was not going as well as I had hoped.

Shit. Why did I have to go and say that?

"Wh-What?" she stammered. She looked terrified, and I was suddenly regretting my honest confession. "San, how can you- how can-" Oh, god, she was stuttering, which meant she was overwhelmed with emotion. And it wasn't good emotion, either.

Fuck, I ruined _everything_! Ugh, this is exactly why I don't do stupid _feelings-_

"Britt…" I was hurt. I'm not gonna lie. Sadness washed over me and I felt my heart breaking. I wanted to reach for her, but instead I crossed my arms under my chest and looked away. "I-"

"You _can't_," Brittany insisted sadly. "You can't love me."

"Why not?" I asked, looking at her. She had an anguished expression on her face. It was a little late to tell me I couldn't love her- I mean, I already _did._ And anyways, they were _my_ feelings, so she really had no control over them.

"B-because I haven't been honest with you," she whispered, ashamed. She hung her head.

"What do you mean?" I asked gently. This time I didn't resist my impulse to reach out to her, but she shrank back, away from my touch, and I let my arm drop, trying not to be hurt by her rejection.

"My mission," she blurted in a rush, her eyes squeezed shut in anguish. "My mission on Earth- it's-"

"Britt, I don't care about that!" I hissed. "Don't you see?" I paused to swallow thickly. It was suddenly a lot stuffier in the room, and I felt my throat constricting, making breathing a lot more difficult. "After today, when I thought you- might've been dead," I said shakily. It was still so hard to think about. "I realized that I didn't care about _any_ of that. I just- want _you_."

"Santana," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. I stepped forward. I couldn't resist, I needed to be closer to her.

"Please say you love me back," I whispered, resting my forehead against hers. "_Please_…"

She nodded gently, reaching to cup my face again. "I _do_ love you, I do," she breathed sincerely. "Love you _so much_, San."

I leaned forward and kissed her, wrapping my arms around her neck. She slid her own arms around my waist and lifted me slightly off of the floor in her eagerness. I laughed into her mouth, not breaking the kiss, and felt her smile against my lips. She set me down on my feet, but didn't stop kissing me.

Our kisses grew heated. She didn't release her tight hold on me. I was just so relieved to feel her against me, so utterly elated that she was _alive-_

I gasped in her open mouth as her thigh slipped between my legs, pressing against my center. I hadn't realized how completely turned on I was, how much my body was aching for her, until she was touching me. Her warm hands slid down to my ass, gripping it tightly, and she pulled me roughly against her thigh, making me break the kiss for a moment to moan in response. I could already feel the tension low in my stomach as I rolled my hips against her.

Her mouth never left mine, and I was struggling to breathe as we fell roughly onto my bed. She let her full weight rest on top of me, and I reveled in it. Just another reminder that she was with me, that she was alive. She kissed me, fiercely, and I could almost feel the same emotions pouring off her that I felt, myself- relief, and desperation to prove that I was really okay. I guess she had been just as worried about me as I had been about her. She pushed her thigh against me harder, and my hips responded, canting upwards. She was still gripping underneath my ass, pulling me up roughly into her thrusts, and when she finally broke the kiss to groan into my neck as my thigh found her center, I was dangerously close to falling apart beneath her.

I hooked my free leg around her thigh, tightening it around her, desperate to pull her closer, but it was impossible- she was already pressed into me almost painfully tight, but it still wasn't enough. My feelings threatened to overwhelm me; it was almost as if I wanted to climb inside her, that's how close I wanted to be. I had never felt that way about anyone before, and it was both scary and exhilarating. The desire to be closer consumed me as I gripped her shoulder so tightly that my knuckles were white.

I grabbed her hair with my other hand and tugged her head up roughly from where it had been pressed into the side of my neck to connect our lips again. She growled into my mouth, an almost animalistic sound, and bit my lower lip, bucking her hips harder against my thigh in retaliation. I clawed at her shoulder, fisting her shirt as I felt myself tensing. I was_ so close_-

I felt her hips jerk suddenly, losing her rhythm, and she whimpered her release into my mouth. The sound sent a jolt straight down to my center as she began to tremble slightly, her hips rolling hard against me as she rode out her orgasm. I was shaking- I reached down to grip her hips, to pull her against me, to give me the release I so desperately craved-

She broke the kiss and moved to kiss my neck, sucking and biting fiercely at my pulse point, and that was all it took.

"Ugh- _Britt_-" I cried out as I came undone, arching up off the bed as much as I could with her body still completely pressed into me. She kissed me desperately, her tongue stroking mine as my whole body tensed and froze for a moment. I broke the kiss to suck in a quick breath and let the waves of my orgasm crash through me. I shuddered, holding her tightly, my nails digging into the shoulder I was clutching. I'm sure it was painful, but I _had_ to hold onto her- I had to know she wasn't _dead_-

"Fuck," I panted, breathless, as I stared into her dark, smitten blue eyes. "_Fuck_." We kissed fervently for long moments, slowly bringing ourselves back down from the frenzy we'd worked ourselves into. She eventually ended up on her back, with me curled up into her side. I was emotionally and physically drained, but I had never felt so content in my entire life. My eye had started to twitch with fatigue, but I fought to stay awake, scared that I'd wake up and she'd be gone again. I curled up in her arms and snuggled into her side as we lay silently. My hand rested above her heart, feeling it beat strongly in her chest, and I tucked my face into the base of her neck, breathing in the smell of her skin. She held me tightly against her, and I slowly drifted asleep to her steady breathing, reassuring me that she was alive, that she was there holding me.

* * *

The feel of Brittany's fingers running gently through my hair and her arms tightening around me woke me up. I pressed a soft kiss to her collarbone to let her know I was awake, and her fingers halted in my hair.

"I'm sorry," she breathed against my temple before pressing a kiss there.

I hummed in acknowledgement before I glanced at my bedside clock. 5:23am.

"Ugh, fuck," I mumbled, nuzzling my face into Brittany's neck. I could so get used to waking up in her arms. "I'm so _tired_."

"I know," she said softly, tracing her fingers gently down my cheek. I turned my face to kiss her fingertips, resisting the urge to nip them gently. It was too early to get wound up- _again._ I let my thoughts drift back to what we did not even three hours ago and felt my pulse quicken. I fought down my blush. "We have to meet the others."

I groaned in response, and looked up into her eyes. They were clear blue, and my heart was suddenly bursting with the knowledge I had gained before we had fallen asleep- she _loved_ me.

I surged forward to kiss her sloppily, my lips barely connecting with hers, and she giggled beneath me, grasping my chin to hold me steady so she could kiss me properly. I felt my body responding to her kiss, despite having just humped her like a wild animal merely hours ago, and pulled away regretfully.

Too early. Right.

I heaved a big sigh and climbed off of her, stretching. My limbs were still exhausted, but we had a job to do. We had fallen asleep with the light on, and it was still dark outside. Fuck. There was no way I was going to school after this. The most annoying thing was that this didn't even do _any_ damage to the Yeerks whatsoever. We were wasting all of our energy and time, and putting ourselves at risk to stop someone who had nothing to do with the Yeerk invasion.

I transformed into my kite and followed Brittany's duck as she led the way to the school.

* * *

Sam and Kurt, in bird form, were waiting for us.

_[Morning,]_ I grumped.

They greeted me back, sounding equally exhausted, and I perched on a telephone pole on the opposite side of the school grounds and waited.

_[Any sign of him yet?]_ I asked irritably.

_[Nope,]_ Kurt said, all crabby-like.

While we waited, they filled me in on what had happened the previous night, since we hadn't had time in all of the commotion.

Kurt had witnessed Sebastian leave the shack and head in the direction of Brittany's scoop. At that point he had flown to get Sam, who was geographically the closest. Sebastian had apparently gone to get the cube from Brittany, but she didn't give it up without a fight. However, he had planned for that, and had shown up as a lion to attack her- something she hadn't expected. They fought, but he managed to overpower her. I'll spare the details, they only made my blood boil with rage all over again.

With Brittany unconscious, Sebastian took the cube and hid it somewhere, but by that point, Sam and Kurt had caught up with him and chased him down, ending that chase at the mall. Sebastian then told Sam that he was planning to go back down to the Yeerk Pool, alone- which explained what he was doing at the mall to begin with. He was going to re-enter the Pool through Macy's.

Sam told Kurt to get _me,_ and then engaged Sebastian on his own. They fought, and fell through the skylight, landing with only minimal damage. Sebastian tore Sam up, and that's where I entered. I sent Kurt to get Mercedes. The two of them flew straight back and talked Sam through his transformation.

Meanwhile, Puck- who had shown up to relieve Kurt for his _Sebastian Watch_ shift- realized something wasn't right and flew out to Brittany's scoop. He found her there, unconscious, and managed to revive her. Kurt had gone out to search for Brittany, and ran into them both, who were searching for Sam.

Hearing the story made me incredibly grateful to Puck- he had helped Brittany when I couldn't. I made a mental note to thank him later. He had done more for me than he had even realized- first helping me work through my feelings for Brittany, and then helping save her life. I was really touched. And not in the wanky way.

_[I see a crow in the distance,]_ Sam reported, snapping me from my warm feelings of gratitude. I instantly snapped into bitch mode. _[Everyone act normal. We don't want to alert him to our presence.]_

I took off from the telephone pole and looked for something to swoop down on, like a rat or a snake or something. I even pretended a rock was a mouse just so I could look normal. I guess that's what normal predator birds did, right? Swooped down on things? At least, that's what they did on those nature shows.

_[Okay, it's definitely him,]_ Sam confirmed. _[He's transforming behind the bleachers.]_ He paused for a moment to assess_. [All right, he's gone fly. We can move in, he won't spot us.]_

I flew to the bleachers and landed down behind them, greeted by Kurt a moment later. Sam's pigeon form was the least conspicuous of the bird forms we had, which was why he was flying surveillance for this mission- the rest of us were too easily recognizable as predators. Pigeons were everywhere.

I smiled to myself. Sam's bird form came in handy, after all.

Kurt and I were human moments later. And we were not the slightest bit out of place, considering we both attended the school. We entered the building, keeping an eye out for Sebastian the fly. We had a good feeling he was looking for Sue, our principal. After all, if any deal were to be made, why not make it with Visser Seven?

And, of course, we couldn't let that happen.

Kurt and I moved silently down the hall. It was early, so not many students were there yet. Good. The less crowded, the easier it was to try and spot a fly.

"Do you see him?" I muttered under my breath.

"No. Look for Sue, that's where he will be," Kurt whispered.

I continued walking down the hall, and finally spotted the tall, blonde head of our principal. I tensed immediately.

"It's _her_," Kurt reassured.

I nodded slowly.

Sue walked down an adjoining hallway, and we followed at a distance, searching for a fly. Yeah, I know that sounds ridiculous. It _was_ ridiculous. Finally, Kurt gripped my arm tightly and nodded at Sue's back. There, between her shoulder blades, was a tiny black dot.

I smiled grimly at Kurt, who coughed.

The signal.

Sue turned down another empty hallway before heading downstairs and moving down an even more abandoned hallway. When she reached the end of the hall, she opened the door to a classroom, and entered it.

Kurt and I caught each other's gaze. He nodded firmly. We both entered the classroom and quickly closed the door behind us. It was an empty classroom, a lab- the teacher's desk was a huge island with a granite countertop. Puck stepped out from behind it, holding a small metal canister.

Sue turned to us and smiled sadly, exposing her back to Puck.

Then she began to _change._

Puck carefully maneuvered behind Sue- who was actually Mercedes- and in one quick motion, scooped Sebastian the fly into the metal canister.

_[What the-?]_ Sebastian demanded. _[What is this?!]_

"Game over, dude," Puck muttered bitterly, screwing the lid on tightly. "Sue doesn't come to the school until 9."

But how could he posibly know that? He went to Dalton.

Sebastian was trapped.

* * *

We quickly exited the school. Sebastian was screaming, broadcasting his thoughts, and we had to yell and be loud to cover up anyone who might be hearing them until we got away from the public. Once out of range, we transformed. The last thing we wanted was some police officer questioning us about why we weren't in school.

Sam kept a look-out above our heads as Fido and Lord Tubbington booked it down the street.

I was tired out long before Puck was. Lord T really needed to drop a few hundred pounds. I know I could've just flown like the others, but it didn't seem right leaving Puck to carry the canister alone. I wanted to express to him that I was grateful, and I didn't really know how to do that through words.

We slowed once we reached the end of town. Once we made it to the edge of the woods, Sam, Brittany, Mercedes and Kurt joined us on the ground. Mercedes transformed into her own fluffy white cat- her first avatar, Sam was a golden retriever, and Brittany was the adorable goat we had acquired at the petting zoo at the State Fair.

And we all marched together, solemnly, deeper into the woods.

_[Okay, guys, you win, ha ha,]_ Sebastian said desperately.

_ [You tried to kill us,]_ I said flatly.

_[Come on, you can't take that seriously,]_ Sebastian joked, but his voice was higher, laced with fear.

_[You'll see how serious it is in two hours,]_ Puck said humorlessly.

It was quiet for a moment while he processed what Puck had said. _[What? You've gotta be kidding me!]_ Sebastian cried. _[You can't do that! I'm a _fly_!]_

_[I wish there was another way,]_ Kurt admitted sadly. _[But you brought this on yourself.]_

_[I just wanted my old life back,]_ he wailed_. [I never asked for any of this! You guys would've done the same thing as me!]_

_[We _are_ you,]_ I said in an emotionless voice. _[And we never asked for it, either.]_

_[No, you're not,]_ he argued bitterly. _[You guys think you can play God- that you can control the lives of others- well, you_ can't!] He paused before he spat,_ [I can't believe this!]_

_[Sebastian, we've been fighting the Yeerks for a long time now,]_ Sam said tiredly, defeated. _[And we can't let _anyone_ stop us. There's too much at stake. I wish you could understand that.]_

_[I do! I _do_ understand! I swear I'll change!]_

_ [Too late,]_ I said harshly.

Of _course_ we didn't believe him. We weren't stupid. We weren't willing to risk our identities again. So we didn't respond to any more of his begging. Only marched steadily deeper into the woods. We needed a place to drop him where he would never be found, where no one would be in range of his thought-speak cries. When we finally reached that spot, Puck dropped the canister from his mouth and into the underbrush.

_[He has been transformed for 67 minutes,]_ Brittany said somberly.

_[Oh, god! You guys are really doing this! Nooooo!]_ Sebastian cried.

And he didn't stop crying, not for a single minute of those long, agonizing two hours.

* * *

I made the others leave, eventually. I could tell it really pained Kurt to listen to Sebastian's cries. Mercedes, too. Sam offered to stay, but I knew how sensitive he really was.

I knew because I was like him.

Puck tried to argue, but I made him leave, too. I think he understood somehow that it was my way of thanking him for saving Brittany's life. That I was protecting him, protecting them _all_ from how awful the whole experience was.

I couldn't protect Brittany.

She refused to leave, insisting that she needed to stay to keep track of the time.

I couldn't force her to leave- in a way, I felt like I would cave, myself, if I didn't have her to support me, to keep me strong. I _needed_ her.

Even if she was a goat.

I waited out most of the time as Lord Tubbington. The cat brain protected me, helped me distract myself with things that were crawling in the woods.

Sebastian begged. He pleaded. He tried to bargain with me, growing increasingly more desperate as Brittany counted down the minutes. But I remained silent, stoic behind my cat brain. I refused to answer. And eventually he fell into despair.

Ultimately, though, I reached the end of my own time limit, and I transformed back into a human and sat, with my arms wrapped around bent knees, barefoot in the woods. I stared at the bark of a tree. I _couldn't_ look at Brittany. I didn't want any part of this experience to be connected to her in any way, other than the fact that she was present. Her presence comforted me, made me hold on to my sanity. She remained silent, buried in her own thoughts, and spoke only to confirm that the two hours had eventually passed.

Sebastian cried.

The sun was climbing higher in the sky but it was still cold and dark in the woods, the trees blocking most of the sun's rays. I shivered. I'm sure I felt something crawling over my bare foot. But I retreated further into myself.

I waited an extra hour to make sure he was truly trapped, contemplating the decision we had all made together. It would've been so easy to just squish him as a fly, to end what would surely be a short and miserable existence for him- a fate worse than death. Being trapped as a cheetah wouldn't be so bad, I guess. But as a fly? I would rather be dead.

The kid had really been given an unlucky existence. It wasn't his fault he had found the blue box- something that we hadn't recovered yet. We didn't know where he had hidden it, nor did we think he would tell us where it was for anything other than freedom from the canister, the one thing we definitely _could not_ give him.

In a way, I felt sorry for him.

But then I thought about what he did to Brittany, and to Sam, and what he would've done to me if I hadn't outsmarted him. And I knew that even being trapped as a fly was too kind for him.

I couldn't release him from the canister, even after he was trapped- it was too risky. He could still fly to the Yeerks out of spite and reveal our identities, reveal _everything_. It would've made the whole previous three hours of misery pointless in the end. I eventually began to walk away, Brittany silently moving beside me and taking my pinky in hers. It comforted me. Sebastian didn't even know we had left.

He was alone.

The average lifespan of a fly is 21 days… but without food or water, trapped in a solid metal canister? Without _air_?

Who really even knows?

* * *

**Yeesh, heavy chapter is heavy. **

**Hope it wasn't too intense for you guys. :D**

**Review with your lovely thoughts and feels, if you want to, of course.**

**My update next week might be a day or two late, as I'm flying out to Mississippi to help my aunt move. I might be able to get some writing done on the plane, though, and I'm gonna try and have an update by Monday. If not, though, never fear- there will be an update. It just might be a slightly late one. So, sorry in advance if that happens to happen. :B**

**As my sponsor says, keep calm and ship on!**

**And just remember: BRITTANA IS _ALWAYS_ ON! 8'D~**


	13. A Situation

**Hey guyyyys. Sorry about the delay. I was tied up with helping my family move all weekend, and then I had to work the past few days which left me no time to write, but fear not! I will be back to my normal schedule come Monday. I do apologize for making you all wait so long, though. :(**

**Thanks and all of the awards to everyone who reviewed, PM-ed, and commented on last chapter! All of your opinions are appreciated, and if you have anything you want me to reply to hopefully you know by now that my PM door is always open. LOL. **

**I would like to take a moment to quote my sponsor in saying, "keep calm and don't listen to spoilers." You'll drive yourself crazy doing that. Trust me, I know. Brittana is endgame, and even though we have some trying waters for our ship ahead, if we just keep calm and ship on, we will be okay, I promise! (I'm not going to lie, though, I can't listen to "Mine" and I've been going out of my way to avoid stations that might play a song that's been covered by _Glee-_ so basically, I've given up music. ._.)**

**So, fun fact: I just realized that three of the original _Animorphs_ names are on _Glee-_ Jake, Rachel, and Cassie (sort of- Cassandra, close enough!) I thought that was funny. Waiting for Marco and Tobias (that'll never happen) but we shall see!**

**Okay and by the way this story is still M-rated. That means _you,_ kids. **

**Happy reading! 8D~**

* * *

"G-O! Let me hear you say GO!"

I kept my most winning smile plastered on my face as I clapped and stepped with the rest of the Cheerios.

"That's right, U-NITE! Let me hear you say FIGHT!"

I punched out my fists dramatically, holding tightly to my pom-poms. I swung my arms in an arc as I twirled to take a step backwards in the formation while several of the other girls did the opposite, stepping forward. When I turned back to the bleachers to continue the chant, I caught Brittany's blue eyes, and my smile grew impossibly wider.

"W-I-N! Let me hear you say WIN!"

I felt silly running through the chants and cheers, but Coach Roz reminded us at every opportunity that we weren't a _dance_ squad; we were a _cheerleading_ squad, and we needed to show team spirit, blah blah blaaah. We clapped and cheered and did cartwheels and round-offs and back handsprings, and by the time Coach blew the whistle for a break I was sweating, even in the crisp, chilly air.

I gave Brittany a quick smile before I jogged over to my duffel bag, digging out my water bottle and unscrewing the cap. I took a long drink and steadied my breathing, attempting to lower my heart rate a little.

It was Thursday, and we had a short practice since there were two JV football games coming up over the weekend, which was why we were focusing on _actually_ cheering instead of high-tempo dance numbers. (I know- weird, right? Cheering- who _does_ that anymore?)

Brittany and I had been inseparable since the weekend. Even though the immediate threat to her safety was gone, I was still reluctant to let her leave my side, except when I was in class. She didn't seem to mind, though. She enjoyed the trashy reality TV shows and movies we'd been watching the past few nights, and she came to observe my Cheerios practice most days. Truthfully, I enjoyed the way she watched me- like, okay, I know it sounds lame, but she had this sparkle in her eyes whenever she looked at me and it made me feel like Leonardo DiCaprio in that one scene in _Titanic_. I felt like the King of the World, only I didn't have to sail on a doomed ship and have steamy sex in the backseat of someone else's antique car. Although, you know, I might like to _try_ that with Britt-

Okay, getting off topic here. The point is, I liked having her with me, and I liked the way she looked at me. No one else had ever admired me, _really_ admired me, the way she did. It's like she saw through me- to the _real_ me. Like she knew who I was, and liked that person. And, well, it was a really comforting and reassuring feeling to have. The most amusing part of her coming to watch my practices, though, was that no one realized that she didn't even go to our school- but no one recognized her, either.

No one except Matt.

"Jeez, she sure doesn't give up, does she?" he chuckled as he stepped up to refill his water bottle with water from the huge jug sitting on a stool nearby.

"What?" I asked dumbly, narrowing my eyes at him. I looked around briefly and realized that football practice was on a break too. Coach Roz was talking to one of the assistant coaches of the football team. I turned back to Matt. I _definitely_ didn't like his tone. Was he talking about…? My stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought.

Matt tilted his head towards Brittany, who was sitting on the bleachers, smiling gently at me. Her eyes were sparkling (I know, I _know_) as they watched my every move with complete adoration. I looked over at her and caught her eyes (you know, the _sparkling_ ones) and she didn't look away, instead turning her whole body in my direction, open and vulnerable to me. My sharp gaze softened as I took in her posture and expression, and I lost myself for a moment just staring at her like a soppy moron.

That is, until Matt opened his dumb mouth for a second time.

"That weird girl is watching you again. She can't take her eyes off you," he clarified, as if I should be repulsed right along with him. Some nearby cheerleaders giggled and made gagging noises at the topic of conversation. I felt my stomach drop further, my blood slowly boiling as I heard them whispering and laughing about Brittany. Involuntarily, my hands began to clench into fists and I gritted my teeth, my jaw tensing. I shot them a warning look, but they must've been too dumb to recognize rage, even when it was pouring off of me in waves. "She's _still_ following you around?" Matt continued. "Man, what a creep."

"Don't call her that," I snarled, glaring at him. He looked taken aback at my tone and rolled his eyes. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that I was slightly unjustified for being mad at Matt- I had sort of encouraged his dislike of her when Brittany and I first became friends- but I was too angry to really care. I felt the other cheerleaders staring at me. They continued talking in hushed voices, just loud enough for me to hear. As if I might like to _join in_.

"Like she doesn't have _anything_ better to do-"

"It's so _weird-_"

"What a _perv-_"

I squeezed my eyes shut briefly to gain control over my anger. I was literally seconds away from saying _fuck it_ and transforming to cheetah to _rip them all to shreds_.

I had a lot of rage, okay?

Matt must've finally noticed my anger, because he spoke again. "Jeez, calm down, Santana- she's just some _stupid_ _girl_-"

"I said, _DON'T_," I exploded, advancing on him with my hands balled into fists. I was literally shaking with fury, the cheetah beginning to consume my thoughts so much I half thought I was already starting the transformation. Matt held up his hands defensively, shocked at my outrage.

"Okay, all right, _damn_," he muttered. "I thought you didn't even _like_ her."

"Yeah," one of the bitchy cheerleaders spoke up from nearby. "She's totally _psycho_."

"_Totally_," Bitch Number Two chimed in. "I mean, look at how she's _staring_ at you."

"Why would you want someone like _her_ as a friend?" First Bitch said with obvious disgust.

"Her friendship is worth more to me than anything in this whole miserable, stinking _world_," I snapped loudly, daring any of them to cross me with my wild expression. They stood, silently frozen, as I spun on my heel and made my way to the bleachers. I quickly jumped up the rows until I reached Brittany. She looked completely surprised as I reached out my hand to her, my expression softening the instant her eyes met mine.

"Come on," I said gently. She slid her hand into mine and I enjoyed the warmth and softness of her skin for a brief moment before I tugged her to her feet.

"Is practice over already?" she asked curiously.

"It is _now_," I said, pulling her along next to me as I descended the bleachers. Her hand held onto mine more tightly for balance as she followed me down and I smiled at her mistrust of having only two legs. "Let's get out of here," I said once our feet touched the grass.

"Okay," she said, obliviously cheerful. She smiled brightly at me and I returned it. I interlaced my fingers with hers, joining our hands more intimately, and pulled her closer to me.

Then, ignoring the appalled looks and shocked glares of my teammates, I strolled, head held high, off of the field, holding Brittany's hand proudly in mine. I knew I was facing demotion, punishment, and even possibly expulsion from the team, but I didn't care. It wasn't worth being on the team if it came at the cost of jokes made at Brittany's expense. _Nothing_ was worth that.

_Fuck them._

* * *

It turns out my punishment for leaving practice, as I learned on Friday morning, was that I was banned from cheering at the JV football games over the weekend. Which, if you ask me, wasn't much of a punishment at all. In fact, it was kind of a relief. I still hadn't gotten the nice, relaxing weekend I'd been looking forward to for the past two weeks. Some _Transformers_ bullshit always came up, but now we had nothing scheduled or planned… and the previous weekend I had promised Brittany a _date_.

So, after school on Friday, she came over and we got dressed up together. It was fun doing her hair and make-up. We giggled and pecked each other chastely and were just lame, giggly high school goofballs with crushes. It was _awesome_. I spent _way_ too much time staring at her like a besotted teenager, but I didn't even care. I loved looking at her, and being with her, and just _her_. There was something domestic and alluring about seeing her wearing my clothes better than I did, and I didn't bother to hide my appreciative leering.

Once we were dressed and ready, I drove us out to my favorite restaurant, _Breadstix_. I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but Brittany's shiny, pink lips kept distracting me. She was wearing some kind of lip gloss that made her lips look wet, and it was enticing and completely unfair. She said Kurt had given it to her- yeeeah, I don't know why Kurt had it, either. I could only hope it was because he got it specifically for her, but one never knows with Kurt. I'd seen those golden sparkly shorts he owned- and then _worn_ _to the club_.

Ugh, I can never unsee that.

Anyway. We arrived at _Breadstix_, and despite being a Friday night, the place was pretty slow. I guess everyone was at the JV game, which suited me just fine, because I definitely didn't mind having a nice private booth with Brittany, away from everyone.

As we sat down, it occurred to me that Brittany had never been to an actual sit-down restaurant before. And also probably didn't know what anything was on the menu. I glanced over the dishes listed in the menu, even though I pretty much had it memorized. I scanned the item descriptions and wondered what Brittany would possibly like to eat. The girl had tried a wide variety of edible- and _inedible_- things, and found most of them agreeable, including gasoline. So basically I could order anything and she would probably like it. I had just made the decision to order her my favorite pasta dish when I caught sight of her over my menu.

I almost laughed at her puzzled expression. She had her unopened menu flat on the table in front of her and was hunched over it, staring straight down at it as if it held all the answers to the great mysteries of the universe. "Britt, honey- you have to open it. Like this." I demonstrated, and she mimicked me. I smiled as her eyes bulged while she took in the brightly-colored pictures of dishes scattered across the pages. "I thought I would order for you… unless you recognize any of the food? I mean, do you see anything you like?"

"All of it," she said reverently, still looking at the pictures with so much wonder it made my heart ache with affection for her. She stroked her fingers down one of the pages slowly, as if she was actually touching the dish itself, and I laughed.

"Okay, Britt. I'll just order for you."

She looked up, her eyes holding so much adoration and gratitude that my breath caught in my throat. We sat staring at each other intensely for long, silent moments. I searched the depths of her eyes, taking in all the different shades of blue there, and the tiny flecks of gold that the low, romantic lighting of the restaurant made more prominent. I felt a blush heating my cheeks when I noticed her eyes stray down to my lips, and for a moment I considered skipping dinner altogether-

But then our waitress showed up.

I ordered our drinks and food, and then we sat and made pleasant conversation until our food arrived. She told me about what she did around in my room all day while I was in school, which was mostly reading Wikipedia pages on the internet. The revelation, as unsurprising as it was, still made me laugh. She also told me that she learned how to take a shower, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise. At my reaction, she nodded sagely, and told me that it was a very pleasant experience. My thoughts drifted abruptly to her naked, soapy body covered in warm water and I took a huge gulp of my sweet tea to distract me. She seemed not to notice as I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat for a moment, until a thought occurred to me.

"Britt- how do you know English?"

She blinked at me and took a bite of her food. "I don't."

"Wait- what?" I asked, scrunching my face up in confusion. "Then how are you speaking to me?"

"When the-" she lowered her voice conspiratorially, "-_Yeerks_ move in on a planet, we Andalites follow, right? We usually send a linguine specialist," I giggled slightly at her incorrect use of the word, "to collect data on the primary languages of the dominant and secondary species on the planet, and then all the languages are recorded and sent to the Home World, where they are catalogued and downloaded onto tiny chips constructed from biologically safe materials. The chips are then implanted into the brains of all Andalites serving in the military." She shrugged to punctuate the end of her explanation, and took another bite of food. "This is incredible," she said, gesturing to her pasta. I sat, blinking, on my side of the booth, processing what she had just told me, completely fascinated at the idea.

"So you have one of those in your head?" I clarified as I took a bite of my own pasta.

She nodded. "Yes. It contains approximately 1,272 different languages from around the universe."

"Holy shit. And the chip stays in you while you transform?"

She grinned at my curiosity. "Yes, but it's microscopic, San. It doesn't interfere with even the tiniest forms, although, if I were to transform into a bacterial microbe I believe it may become problematic."

I made a face, imagining it. How would you even acquire that? "Is that _possible_?"

"No," she said seriously, but with a huge smile on her face and a playful glint in her eyes. I rolled my eyes at her, but couldn't help the smile from sliding onto my face at her humor.

"Okay, so how does the chip work, then?" I asked. "Like, it just tells you what I'm saying and what to say back? And with reading? How does that even happen?"

"The placement of it somehow syncs it into those parts of my brain that process language, or- something…" She blushed and picked at her food, averting her eyes to her plate. "It's- _complicated_- to explain."

I raised my eyebrow at her obvious avoidance of the question. "It's complicated, or you don't know?" I teased.

She looked slightly embarrassed. "I don't really know," she mumbled. "I didn't pay much attention to that part in school. Linguine wasn't really interesting."

"Wow," I laughed, picturing her falling asleep in class. "Okay, so, moving on; how can you change with clothes? Like, are all of your people as good at transforming, or is it just you?"

She blushed deeper at my compliment, her ears turning pink. I smiled like a fool at how adorable she was and resisted the almost overwhelming urge to get out of my seat and hug her tightly. "It's just me. I'm an _estreen_," she said, taking another bite of her food.

"What does that mean? I don't speak," I lowered my voice, "_Andalite_, Britt."

She grinned. "It's an Andalite term for someone who has a natural talent for transforming. Really good _estreens_ can make the transitions look beautiful; For example, Forlan-Iskillion-Darrath is an amazing _estreen_," she gushed, and I smiled dreamily at her enthusiasm. When did I get to be such a sap? "She's the founder of the art of _morph dancing_. Which, if I had a choice of career, would be what I'd choose. The way she transitions her body- it's highly aesthetically pleasing. I wish I was as good as her." When she finished, her eyes took on a faraway look and I reached out to place my hand on top of hers on the table.

"I think you're already pretty good," I pointed out. "The best I've ever seen."

She smiled tightly at the compliment and shrugged, then picked at her pasta again, her expression falling. "I'm one of the best in the military, which has a lot to do with why I'm here, actually…" She heaved a sigh and looked up from her plate, her serious eyes meeting mine. "Santana, I-"

"Britt, do you still like your pasta?" I interrupted. I didn't want to talk about anything heavy. I didn't want the conversation to turn into something upsetting. We had plenty of time to talk about upsetting things later, but right then I wanted to live in my bubble of happiness. I was having the perfect night with her and I didn't want to ruin it with whatever she wanted to reveal. And judging by how scared and apprehensive she was being regarding it, it was probably something I wouldn't like.

She smiled gratefully at the change in subject, her eyes never leaving mine. We stared at each other for a long moment again, the intensity between us almost tangible. Her eyes darkened the longer she stared at me, and she licked her lips before she responded, "It's still delicious."

I felt a shiver run through me at her sultry tone and the sight of her smooth, pink tongue gliding over her lips. I swallowed. "I'm glad," I said, hoping my voice didn't actually sound as pathetic as I thought it did. I stroked my thumb over her hand on the table, and we broke our gazes apart in favor of finishing our meal in comfortable silence. Every once in a while we would catch each other staring; I always felt my face heating up when she caught me, but she never seemed ashamed or embarrassed when I caught her. Sometimes I admired the fact that she had no social training, no inhibitions ingrained in her about human etiquette. It was refreshing and for some reason, so, so attractive.

When the bill came, I put it on my credit card and we left. On the car ride home, she boldly slid her hand onto my knee, and I smiled encouragingly at her, letting my hand rest on top of hers. Her touch was warm and comforting, but also made me anxious. I hadn't forgotten the second half of the date I had promised Brittany. The thought made my head spin and my stomach flutter nervously, but I vowed not to let myself get tangled up in my doubts.

_Just take it slow. _

* * *

"Tell me about your life, Britt. I want to know everything about you. What were you like before the military?"

Brittany was on her back on my bed, and I was curled into her in my favorite snuggle position. I had my head on her shoulder, and I was tracing random patterns on her collarbones and breastbone with my fingertips. Every now and then I'd press my lips to the bare skin of her shoulder, reassuring her as she talked.

She took a deep breath. Her fingers stroked slowly up and down my arm, making my skin tingle. "My father is War-Prince Sonilli-Nysp-Esth, under the Andalite Dome Ship _Asculan._ My mother is Apex-Biologist Falan-Iscar-Ashul. My younger sister is _aristh_ Estrif-Iscar-Lirem, under the Andalite Dome Ship _Asculan_. She also specializes in the transforming power, but she is not an _estreen_. She spends her time mastering only two forms, which she uses for subterfuge and espionage. That's normally how the transforming power is utilized." Brittany paused, thoughtful for a moment. I kissed her shoulder, urging her to continue. "I had a- _normal_ upbringing, I guess. I didn't take to engineering or sciences like most females my age- I was far more into observing and communicating with animals. I was a dreamer, with a very active imagination. At least, that's what my instructor used to say. A quality that wasn't exactly encouraged, with the war being the focus of our society at the time." She frowned. "And then I was expected to join the military. Females had just begun to be accepted into the ranks, and since I had no aptitude for the careers and hobbies that were common for my gender, and with the war claiming the lives of many, many Andalites, it was forced upon me."

I heard the sadness in her voice and felt my heart clench painfully in my chest. What must it have been like for her: to be forced into the military because no one valued her skills? Her _life_? It made me angry at Andalite society, and sad for Brittany. "What was it like?" I asked, gently, kissing her shoulder again. "Being in the military, I mean."

"Well, I- I didn't do so well at first," she stuttered as I kissed her shoulder again, firmer. "The transforming technology is _only_ available to members of the military, and that was the one and only perk of being forced to join. It's also how I discovered my natural talent. But even so, I'm not considered very intelligent among my," she paused as I kissed the base of her neck, then moved down to kiss her collarbones, attempting to distract from the depressing subject, "people…" I began to suck on the skin above her heart, swirling my tongue firmly over it. Her breath hitched. "San…"

"Yeah?" I breathed against her skin, moving to drag my teeth over her collarbone before biting it slowly, softly. She trembled beneath me.

"I- I c-can't-"

I licked up her neck to her ear before I breathed into it, "You're so adorable when you lose control of your speech." I took her earlobe between my teeth and tugged it playfully, laughing softly.

"Santana," she said helplessly, clenching her fists at her sides to restrain herself from touching me.

I paused to catch her eyes, feeling the seriousness of the moment pass between us. "I love you. And I think you're one of the smartest people I know."

Her eyes softened. "Really?"

"Really, really."

"I love you, too," she whispered before she leaned forward to press her lips tenderly to mine. We kissed for a few moments before I carefully slid my hand under her shirt, touching the heated skin of her stomach. I heard her breathing pick up and I smiled at the effect I was having on her.

"I want to touch you," I exhaled into her mouth, stroking the firm muscles in her stomach with my fingers and trying to ignore the nearly overpowering desire to put my mouth on her. _Just take it slow_, I reminded myself. Easier said than done, especially with how incredibly attractive I found Brittany. I traced small circles on her skin, feeling her stomach tense further, and she shivered.

"O-okay," she panted shakily after a moment, and I slid my hand further under her shirt to cup one of her breasts. I groped it softly, then thumbed her nipple until it stiffened and she moaned in response. I kissed her harder, forcing my tongue into her mouth. She was pliant, submissive, her mouth opening willingly to my demanding tongue. I explored her mouth for long moments, squeezing her breast and continuing to tease her nipple until she arched up into me desperately.

She reached up hesitantly to grasp my breasts through my sleep shirt with both hands, and I moaned into her mouth at her uncertain, timid touch. Her touch grew bolder, rougher after a moment, and her efforts were rewarded with me pressing my hips down into her erratically. I could feel my arousal pooling between my legs. I didn't know what it was about her that got me so riled up so quickly, but fuck, I was a pathetic mess as I kissed her hungrily, sucking on her exploring tongue.

I pushed her shirt up quickly, kissing and licking my way down to her breasts. I took my time, enjoying the way she squirmed and gasped at each teasing sensation. I didn't want to rush it in any way, since it was the first time for her. When I finally reached her stiff nipples I sucked them slowly, flicking my tongue against them, and feeling them harden impossibly further in my mouth as I alternated between the two. I dragged my teeth across them, bit them gently, tortured her for long moments until she was writhing beneath me.

I could feel her heart slamming against her ribcage, hear her breath coming in ragged gasps. She switched between fisting the sheets and holding on to me, her hands wandering endlessly, restlessly, as if she was unsure where to place them. And still I teased her. I wanted her to experience all of it, every sensation. I felt her muscles clenching under me and I was nearly overwhelmed with the desire to feel her fall apart beneath me. I wanted it_ so badly._

Her hands eventually buried themselves in my hair. She gripped my head and moaned loudly, without restraint, as she writhed and gasped and panted and whimpered. Her noises were driving me on, driving me _crazy-_ she was so uninhibited, so open, so unashamed and it was a complete turn on to hear everything I was doing to her. I was wet, throbbing- I pushed against her thigh for relief and was only slightly embarrassed that I could feel how soaked my panties were as they pressed into me.

Finally _I_ was the one who couldn't take anymore- I needed to touch her.

I moved up and kissed her hard, enjoying the way she held onto me like I was the only thing anchoring her to the Earth; I pulled back slightly to gaze into her dark, ardent eyes and she looked at me like I was everything she'd ever wanted. It made my heart thunder in my chest, made me feel _loved._ My pulse and thoughts raced, my feelings burst inside me, my stomach clenched with arousal and butterflies- a weird feeling, let me tell you. Her mouth was parted to take in air, which she sucked in with deep gulps. I slowly slid my left hand past the waistband of her shorts and watched her bite her lip in anticipation.

When I finally touched her, she was slick and hot and smooth- she felt amazing, and we both moaned at the contact. It took seconds before I found the spot that made her arch up off the bed and cry out. I captured her lips quickly with mine, cutting off her strangled whimpers, and kissed her deeply as I worked my fingers in a smooth stroking motion.

She was shaking beneath me, her hips pushing up against my hand as I teased slow circles around her, exploring and finding the unique way she liked to be touched. I whispered words of encouragement to her as I dipped my fingers lower to gather some more wetness and smear it over her to make my stroking smoother. She was so _wet._ The thought that I caused that made a jolt of arousal shoot through me and I couldn't help rutting against her thigh as I touched her. Her body was beginning to move uncontrollably, and she held me tighter, like I was her lifeline. I saw a mixture of confusion, panic, and absolute pleasure in her facial expression, and I kissed her again, reassuringly. After a moment of not being able to breathe, she broke away and pulled me impossibly closer, gasping for air. My lips fell against her ear as I brought her closer and closer to her glorious end. I wanted to feel her fall apart, wanted to feel her beneath me, riding the orgasm my hand brought her. I didn't realize how much I _wanted_ that until I was so close to achieving it.

I moaned in her ear at my dirty thoughts, and without realizing it, I was riding her thigh without restraint and talking to her to help her along.

"Shh, I've got you, you feel _so_-"

"S-_San_-" she panted desperately.

"Oh, Britt, you're so good, you're doing so good, baby-"

"I-I'm-" I felt her hands clutching me tighter, so hard that it was almost painful, but it felt amazing. I kept up my steady pace.

"That's it, come on, _come_-"

"San_tan_a-" she cried out brokenly, and her entire body curled up into me, freezing for a long moment before she fell back in a sweaty, exhausted heap, panting and gasping for breath. I kissed her fiercely- I didn't care if she couldn't breathe. I just wanted her lips on mine. She kissed back as best she could- she was shaking violently, holding me so tight I could barely breathe, myself, and moaning into my mouth until, finally, I stilled my fingers against her.

I kissed her intermittently before snuggling up next to her, tracing lazy circles on her bare stomach as she caught her breath. I dropped small, wet pecks on her bare shoulder and after a few moments she turned to kiss me softly, running her fingers through my hair and making me sigh into her mouth. I was still pretty worked up, and I half considered finishing myself off, but her slow, tender kisses brought me back down, calming me, and she was so warm and comfy I didn't want to move.

We laid there in silence just touching each other lovingly, which sounds lame, but it was extremely intimate. She played with my fingers and stroked up my bare arms, giving me goosebumps. She traced over my face, my neck, my collarbones; and I returned each lingering, exploring touch. We kissed and kissed and just looked at each other, until she had to change back because of the time limit.

However, when she became human once more I gave her a questioning look. She smiled at me and wordlessly adjusted herself so she was spooning me. I sighed contentedly as her arm draped across my stomach, pulling me in tight to her perfect, soft body. I hadn't ever been held like that before, and I realized suddenly that I wouldn't mind being held that way forever. She fit perfectly against me, and I smiled at her comforting warmth. I pulled her hand up from my stomach to kiss her fingertips, then her knuckles, before clutching her hand to my chest, over my heart. She nuzzled into my neck from behind and her deep, steady breathing lulled me to sleep.

* * *

I woke up to an empty bed, which left me feeling confused- usually Brittany was there when I woke up. But then I felt a little guilty for expecting her to transform all the time... I couldn't really imagine spending so much time outside of my own normal body. What right did I have to expect her to spend even more time outside of her own?

I guess the past week had spoiled me.

I glanced around the room, determining quickly that she was not in it. My window was closed so I know she didn't leave during the night. My bedroom door was slightly ajar. Maybe she had gone to the bathroom? I listened for any sound, but it was silent, so I got out of bed, running a hand through my disheveled hair to straighten it. I caught my reflection in my vanity mirror as I passed it, and rolled my eyes at the dopey, satisfied grin on my face. I was hopeless.

As I made my way to the stairs I heard voices talking, and when I saw who was in the doorway my stomach dropped.

It was that leprechaun kid, Rudy or Robby or whatever the fuck his name was. Brittany was framed in the doorway, talking to him. The idea that the little pixie boy knew where I lived was terrifying.

"Why do you always find me to talk to?" Brittany was saying. She shifted her weight, a move I had noticed she did when she was annoyed. The idea that that stupid potato-eating poser was annoying Brittany made me angrier.

I glared at him as I stepped down to the landing and he caught my eyes over Brittany's shoulder.

"Hullo, Miss Santana," Randy greeted with a smile that I didn't return.

"Ireland," I said icily, stepping up next to Brittany and sliding my arm possessively around her waist. She sighed and leaned into me a little, and I smirked as his expression fell slightly. "How nice to see you again."

"Likewise," Ralph said, his eyes darting to Brittany nervously.

"To what do I owe the absolute _pleasure_ of your visit?"

"Miss Motta demands your presence immediately," Ray said, his tone serious as he nodded to punctuate his sentence.

"Oh, is that all?" I asked airily.

He looked confused. "Well, ya."

"Well then, message received, Hornswoggle, you can go now," I said coldly, glaring at him.

"She would also like for me to mention that if you don't show up before 2pm, she will be sending someone to-"

"Okay, can you just stop talking? I'm not really listening, but if I was, I'm almost completely sure I wouldn't even understand half of what you actually said," I snapped, moving closer to him intimidatingly. He took a step back so he was out of the doorframe. Perfect. "And frankly," I continued, "it's _exhausting_ to look at you. So go fulfill whatever your little creepy puppy dog dynamic thing is and tell Sweet-N-Low that we're _oh_-so-grateful for the invite and that we will be stopping by- and get your Great Gazoo potato-eating Irish _ass_ off my doorstep."

He nodded vigorously and I, with only mild joy, slammed the door in his face.

Brittany wrapped her arms around me from behind, pressing her cheek to mine. I leaned back in her embrace. "Sorry I wasn't there when you woke up," she apologized.

"Stupid Irish potato-shitsack," I muttered, resting my hands atop hers that were splayed on my stomach. "Stupid Sugar." I traced my fingers softly across the back of her hand and she squeezed me tightly.

"Should we go tell Sam?"

I sighed. I knew what telling Sam meant. We were about to lose the nice, relaxing weekend I had been planning. I halfway considered telling him Monday instead, but I knew Sugar would keep good on her threat to send her people to us, and that was definitely not on my List of Fun Things I Wanted to Be Involved In. I rubbed my cheek against hers affectionately.

"Yeah."

* * *

"Hello, Sam. This is Santana," I said into my cell phone with way too much fake enthusiasm in my voice.

_"…I know…"_ he said hesitantly, half expecting me to play some sort of prank. And, well, he should. I almost never called him unless it was to tease him.

"I just wanted to inform you that our _good_ _friend_, Sweetness, _demands_ we visit her today. It's been so long since we've seen her, you see, and she's just _dying_ to spend time with us."

It took him a minute, but he got it. "_Oh yeah?"_

"Mmhm. And you're more than welcome to go without me, because Britts and I were kind of in the middle of somethi-"

"_Now, c'mon, Santana_," Sam interrupted on the other end of the phone. I could hear the smile in his voice and it annoyed me. "_What fun would that be? You know that you and I are her _best friends_, and we always visit her _together_. So why don't you meet me at my house in an hour and we'll make the journey out there- _together."

"I fucking hate you."

"_Great! See you soooooon_," he sang.

UGH.

* * *

"I can't _believe_ you idiots!"

"Really? Like, you really can't?" I asked, my voice full of wonder. Because, seriously? She didn't realize that she put her trust in the hands of a bunch of teenagers? Not the brightest fucking decision. Also _not_ our fucking fault that we fucked up. That should've been expected.

Sugar ignored my sarcasm, surprisingly, and continued with her tantrum of spectacular proportions. Because that's _exactly_ what it was.

"You had the cube! Like, you _had_ it! It was _in your hands_! In your possession for a whole _week_! An _entire_ week! You could have stopped by _any time-_"

"Because you live _so close_," I muttered. She ignored me.

"And just given me the freedom I requested. That's all I asked for- _freedom_." I looked around for the tiny violins as she choked up dramatically, reaching a trembling hand out as if reaching for a rope that might save her life. "I kept up my end of the deal, and now you bumbling _morons-_ you freakshow _imbeciles_- you sad, pathetic _wall people-_"

"Dafuq does that even mean?" I asked, confused.

"-go and lose the _only_ means of escaping this wretched war that I have!"

"Oh, come on, Splenda, don't be so dramatic," I said cheerfully. "We are gonna get it back. It's not like it's destroyed. We _will_ find it, it's only a matter of time."

"Yeah, at least we know it exists," Sam added.

"Because you _held it in the palm of your fucking hand_ and then _lost_ it!" She raged. She flailed, she grabbed at her hair and tugged dramatically. She stomped. She punched furniture, then cursed when she injured her hand. She screamed, she kicked, she insulted.

Sam looked guilty. I just looked at my nails.

Huh. Time to repaint. My one finger was beginning to chip-

"You are the most incompetent people I have ever met!" Sugar screamed. "Not Asperger's!"

"You have Asperger's?" Sam asked incredulously.

"How does that not surprise me…?" I shook my head.

"It's self-diagnosed," Sugar said, suddenly calm.

I rolled my eyes. "_Also_ doesn't surprise me."

"And I will never escape this body _because you went and lost the cube_! I gave you _everything! EVERYTHING!"_

"Are you quite done?" I asked disinterestedly.

"No! I won't be done until the cube is yours- and, consequently, _mine_ again!" She made a huffing noise in her throat that kids make when they're frustrated that their crayons broke or whatever. "This is so infuriating! You had the cube! I can't believe you!"

She went on.

Aaaaand on.

Until we left. And uh. She screamed at us the whole way out, too.

"Well, Sam, _thank you so much_ for that," I said flatly as we finally shut the door to Sugar's yelling. I could still hear muffled noise from the other side of the door, and I shook my head in annoyance.

"I didn't know she was gonna be _that_ upset-"

"Yeah, she didn't even care that you and Britt almost _died_," I said sympathetically, with a completely straight face. He rolled his eyes at my sarcasm.

"Right. I doubt she would."

"Okay, so I tagged along on your little adventure. But can we talk about this shit later? I was really kind of enjoying my day and-"

"No," Sam interrupted, and I held in my noise of outrage.

With great difficulty.

He nodded to himself as we strolled down the path to the front gate of the Motta Mansion estate. "We really should meet with the others first. You'll have time later."

"Have I ever told you that I fucking hate you?"

He grinned at me.

Fucking _wall person._

* * *

"So, I mean, I guess we could finish part two of the oatmeal thing?" Kurt suggested.

There we were. Again. In the corn fields. Again.

Meeting about oatmeal.

Again.

Fuck my life.

"You mean return to the Yeerk Pool?" Mercedes clarified with a noticeable shudder.

"I'm _so_ not looking forward to that," I pointed out.

_[Me, either,]_ Brittany added, digging one of her front hooves into the ground.

"Dude, _none_ of us are," Puck stated. "But we've gotta try and do _some_ damage, at least."

"I _thought_ we were trying to find the _cube_," Mercedes countered.

"Well, so are the Yeerks," Sam reminded us. "Remember, they found it before we did last time..."

None of us wanted to think about Sebastian. We had avoided mentioning his name. His demise had affected all of us, and it was still a fresh wound that was healing slowly. I found that blocking out the memory and ignoring that it even happened helped the most. Even if it wasn't the most healthy way to deal with it.

"So if they know anything..." Kurt started, breaking the solemn silence that had settled over us. "We've gotta find it out ourselves, since Sugar is obviously not cooperating for a while."

"Which makes zero sense, considering she wants the cube as bad as we do," I muttered, irritated at her hypocrisy.

"So we go down to the Pool again and scope it out, then bust the oatmeal locker open on our exit, maybe hurt a couple thousand Yeerks? Sounds simple enough," Puck summed up with a thoughtful nod.

"Too bad it never actually _is_."

"When do we do this?" Mercedes asked.

"Don't say-" I started.

"Tonight," Sam said quickly.

"_Fuck_."

"Every day we don't have the cube is another day closer the Yeerks are to obtaining it," Sam continued seriously.

"That sounds like a motivational office poster," Kurt said with a roll of his eyes.

"Besides," Trouty added, "we need the weekends so this doesn't interfere with school."

"Thereby confirming that I will _never_ have another relaxing weekend to do as I please…" I complained sullenly.

Sam's face grew serious. "No. Not until Earth is free."

* * *

"_Shit_, I wanted to spend all day doing this," I gasped into Brittany's mouth as she kissed me heatedly. "But stupid oatmeal," I panted out as she kissed me again. "And stupid Sam." Kiss. "And stupid Yeerks." She kissed me thoroughly, leaving me breathless. "And _stuff_," I whimpered as her tongue invaded my mouth forcefully. She moved to kiss my neck. "Ugh, _God_, Britt."

I laced my fingers in her hair, holding her tightly as she sucked on my neck hard enough to bruise, using her teeth and biting me roughly. I squirmed beneath her at the painful pleasure. But I was also consciously aware of the time. We were supposed to meet right back with Sam and the others, but…

"Britt- we've gotta- _ugh_- we've gotta go soon-"

"But _Santana_," she moaned into my neck. I shivered at the sound. She licked a stripe up the side of my neck, sending another, more intense shiver down my spine, and kissed beneath my ear carelessly. "I'm wet for you again," she breathed. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling a throb of pleasure go straight to my groin at her words. How the fuck was she so sexy? It was unreal.

"Shit- _B_-" I breathed before she was kissing me again, even more intensely than before. Her hands groped me roughly and the desperation in her movements combined with the fact that I hadn't gotten my release last night had me aching for her.

"Touch me, _please,"_ I murmured against her mouth.

"Show me," she panted against my lips. I reached down to grip her wrist, catching her dark, glazed eyes. I mirrored her hand, which was awkward because of the positioning, and guided our hands down between my legs and into my sweatpants to touch my slick, heated center.

We both moaned at the contact. I couldn't believe how turned on I was.

"You're so… so-" she stammered, resting her forehead against mine as her fingers slipped easily against me. It took her a moment to get the hang of touching me, but with my hand helping her, she caught on quickly.

"Faster, B," I breathed, guiding her and rolling my hips up into her hand. I was panting against her lips as she kissed me intermittently. She picked up the pace a little and I felt my hips buck uncontrollably. "Yes!" I gasped. It felt amazing, and I knew it wouldn't take long. I'd been craving her touch for too long. "Just like that. _Fuck_, I'm _so close_-"

She took my lips as I came, stealing my breath as I tensed and bucked beneath her. She kissed me for long moments, working me back down until I squirmed and pulled her hand away. It was just too intense.

We kissed and kissed, and she smiled against my lips and held me tightly. I giggled.

"Sam's gonna _kill_ us."

* * *

Sam didn't, in fact, kill us, but he was pretty pissed. He grumbled about our supreme tardiness the whole way to the mall. I shared a sly smile with Brittany that passed like a secret. I had a huge, dark bruise on my neck from Brittany's mouth, and I'd been reluctant to transform and erase it, since it was the first one she'd ever given me. So we hadn't transformed to meet the others. Besides, we were taking Kurt's SUV to the mall anyways, since we were sneaking in as humans again and needed our disguises- so transforming to meet them would've negated that whole point. None of us had mastered transforming with clothes like Brittany had (though she _had_ been helping me practice.)

It was actually fun wearing disguises, if I ignored the fact that they were to prevent an arrogant, invading alien race from recognizing me, resulting in them enslaving my body which was one of the few things standing in the way of their elimination of the free will of the entire human race. But yeah, when I looked at it as only pretending, it was hella fun. I had opted to use the queen of all trashy skanks, one Snooki from_ Jersey Shore_, as my inspiration, and wore obnoxious shades, a slutty black dress with high pleather boots, and a ridiculous "poof" hairstyle. The dark hickey on my neck only enhanced my character, and I was overall pretty satisfied with my disguise. Brittany was dressed as a bro, complete with a backwards hat and douchebag sunglasses. She looked like a complete tool. I thought she kind of resembled Youtube's Jenna Marbles' attempt at being a guy- minus the penciled-on mustache- but she was still incredibly cute.

I blamed all the _Jersey Shore_ we'd been watching.

The rest of the group was completely baffled at how well we pulled it off and how different we looked. Kurt parked in a space on the opposite side of the mall from Macy's and I climbed out, complaining loudly.

"I feel like a pilgrim from the freaking 20s climbing out of this shit right now," I bitched, secretly impressed with my own obnoxious accent. This was _way_ too fun. Brittany swaggered out of the SUV behind me, puffing out her chest and trying to make her shoulders look bigger than they were. I barely held in my laugh.

"I thought we were trying _not_ to draw attention to ourselves," Sam reminded us pointedly.

"Although it's _entertaining_ as_ fuck_; why didn't you tell me so I could participate, too?" Puck laughed with a mischievous grin. I shrugged.

"It wouldn't be a _disguise_ for you, Puck," I said sweetly, giving him a charming smile. He rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Let's just go," Kurt huffed, his eyes darting over my attire with only slightly obvious disgust.

"You look like a hooker," Mercedes pointed out.

"Sick," I responded with an enthusiastic nod.

We made it into Macy's and to the dressing room with no problems. We had each subtly snatched up a random article of clothing to take to the dressing room with us, and after a quick glance around to ensure no one was watching, we crammed into the last dressing stall.

"Great. _Now_ what?" Mercedes said flatly. I forgot she didn't come out through Macy's on our last visit.

Sam reached forward and tugged a clothing hook that was screwed into the wall, and the full-length mirror popped open, revealing a dark staircase.

The entrance to the Yeerk Pool.

"Well ain't this some Narnia shit," Mercedes muttered.

"I think my crotch is sticking out," Brittany offered randomly.

I looked at her fondly and Sam shot her a glare before he moved through the opening behind the mirror. We all followed and began to descend the long, steep staircase that led down into the darkness of the Yeerk Pool.

"Remember, we meet up by the contraband locker in an hour," Sam whispered. "Try and eavesdrop and communicate with as many people as you can. _Don't_ risk your identity, though." He looked at me seriously as he said it and I huffed dramatically.

When we reached the bottom, we split up into the same groups we had used last time, leaving Brittany and me together again, which was just fine. We strolled casually, trying to listen in on conversations happening around us, but nobody was talking about the blue box. They were only discussing boring shit, and at one point, one group of Controllers mentioned that construction on the new above-ground Pool was underway and would be completed within the month. Not really good news.

The sunglasses I was wearing darkened my vision further in the already dim cavern, but I didn't want to risk anyone seeing my eyes- _especially_ since I had been present during the last attack on the Yeerk Pool. Someone, somewhere would make the connection, and I definitely could not risk that. So I kept them on, despite the decrease in my visibility. Unfortunately, it drew some unwanted attention.

"Why are you wearing those sunglasses?" an older lady asked me, her contempt barely withheld.

"Why _aren't_ you, brah?" Brittany countered, putting her "bro" accent to good use.

The older lady looked at us like we were aliens. How fitting…

"I'm just Snookin' for love," I told her seriously, with my _Jersey_ accent. She didn't respond so I continued, even more serious, "My face is fucked up again."

She shook her head disgustedly and looked as if she wanted to leave the conversation. So, you know. I let her.

"You can hate on me all you want to, but what can you possibly say to someone who looks like Rambo pretty much with his shirt off?" Brittany called to her as she strode purposefully away.

I giggled and slapped her arm playfully, and she laughed, too.

"You're fucking _awesome,_ B," I told her, in-character.

"Yeah, I'm the _shit."_

* * *

We met up with Sam and the others near the contraband locker as planned, and he gestured for us to follow him into the nearby cafeteria. Once we entered, the two small groups of Controllers that were in there, seated at the tables, looked up at us. I took a deep breath.

Okay, time to get dramatic.

"My heart is racing and I smell like King Kong's asshole!" I yelled loudly, doing my very best accent. The Controllers looked completely appalled at my outburst.

"The ocean is all whale sperm!" Brittany shouted wisely, crossing her arms in an intimidating manner to show off her biceps, which, in actuality, weren't all that impressive. I would've laughed at her antics if I wasn't so in-character. I staggered over to one of the groups of Controllers, stopping next to their table.

"And that's why I don't eat freakin' _lobster_ or anything like _that_," I pointed wildly at whatever was on the nearest Controller's plate- some kind of fish that had been deep-fried and probably reheated. "It's all _alive_ when you kill it! That's _disgusting_!"

The Controllers blinked stupidly for a moment before their faces twisted into expressions of horror and they began to stand up to leave as I swayed, drunken-like, on the spot.

Kurt caught on.

"She's got to be on the _oatmeal_ or something!" he cried, taking a step back from me and looking exaggeratedly horrified. When the Controllers didn't immediately flee, he waved his arms wildly. "_OATMEAL_!" he said again, more dramatically, and finally the Controllers seemed to realize that I was crazy.

"Get away from me!" one of the women-Controllers snarled as I stumbled closer.

I got into a confrontational position. "I don't give a _shit!_ I will fucking _attack_ you like a squirrel monkey!"

"Let's get out of here," a Controller from the other group muttered, and they all quickly made their way to the exit.

"I have to poop, I'm getting nervous!" I called after them helpfully as the Controllers high-tailed it out of the room.

Once the door closed, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nice work, guys," Sam complimented with a wry grin.

"G-T-L, baby," Brittany fist-pumped.

"Where's Puck?" I asked quickly, flinging off my sunglasses. They landed in the corner with a small plastic thwack.

"I don't know. I thought he was with Mercedes," Kurt said with a shrug, looking at the sassy woman.

Mercedes looked worried. "He was, but then we got separated. I knew he shouldn't have worn that _yamaka-"_

"The _fuck?!"_ I hissed. "_That_ was his disguise? Where did he even get it?"

"Puck's Jewish," Mercedes huffed, offended that I didn't know that. Uh, shit. Now I felt like a shitty friend. "And, _yes_, that was his disguise. Unfortunately, I saw that hot mess _Rachel Berry_ approach him and lead him away, but I couldn't stop _her_ without drawing suspicion-"

"Shit, this is bad," I muttered.

"What do we do?" Kurt asked. We all looked at Sam.

"Why are you guys looking at me?" Sam asked defensively.

"Because you're our leader," I stated with a shrug. "Now _lead_, General Sherman."

"Okay," Sam said, letting out a slow, deep breath. "We've gotta stick to the original plan and just hope our distraction gives Puck a chance to slip away from Rachel and whoever else, and transform."

"That's the best we can do," Kurt agreed with a nod, his voice holding a tone of nervousness.

I unzipped my pleather boots so they'd be easier to step out of once I started to change. "Let's _do_ this shit." I grinned and lowered into a crouch.

We needed a distraction. We needed chaos.

We needed Taurus the Bull.

I focused on the change but before any of us could begin our transformations, the sound of Visser Seven's booming, megaphone-enhanced voice echoed across the entire cavern, penetrating the door of the cafeteria.

"_My fellow Yeerks! Behold! I have captured one of the Andalite Bandits!"_

We all craned to look out the small window, where Sue was standing on a raised platform with a spotlight shining on her. I had no idea where any of that stuff came from, but with the Yeerks, _anything_ was possible. On the stage, two Hork-Bajir stood behind her, crouched and carefully restraining a snarling, struggling wolf:

Puck.

* * *

**Just for the record, I've never watched _Jersey Shore_, nor am I a cheerleader, so I actually had to do some research. Best _respect._**

**Shit's bout to get real again so stay tuned! And as always, feel free to review if you want to. :)**

**See you Monday! Thanks for reading! :D**


	14. Out

**Hi, everyone! Happy Monday! :D**

**Um. I won't talk forever, since I just saw ya'll like, a few days ago. **

**But here's the next chapter! Thanks to everyone who favorited and reviewed and all that awesome stuff. You guys are the greatest! :)**

**Happy reading! :D**

* * *

"Well, _this_ sucks," I grumbled as we all watched Sue gloat through her megaphone about how awesome she was, and how she had finally captured one of the Rogue Andalites that had been eluding them for so long.

And on. And on.

"It's a Situation," Brittany agreed, still in bro-character.

I gave her a look. "Britt, we're done with disguises, honey."

"We are?" She snatched the backwards hat off her head. "Finally! This hat is giving me a headache."

"Let's focus here," Sam said somberly. "Our original plan is not going to save Puck, since he's already captured."

"We still have to transform, though," Mercedes said. "We're gonna have to try and free him."

"Yeah," Kurt said, nodding firmly. "If they keep him, they're going to _infest_ him, and that _cannot_ happen!"

"Agreed," Sam said with a nod. "So we transform… and then what?"

"The oatmeal," I said suddenly.

"What?" Kurt asked.

"We stick with the plan. We hit the oatmeal, and we offer a trade-"

_[It won't work,]_ Brittany said sadly, already back to her normal Andalite body. I guess she had changed while we were talking. _[Visser Seven will not trade a morph-capable host, even a non-Andalite, for the lives of those Yeerks in the pool. And at this moment, he believes that Puck is an Andalite, so he will not trade his body- for _anything_.]_

My face fell.

"It's the best we have, though," Sam pointed out. "We have to at least try."

"And what happens when Visser Seven refuses, like Brittany said?" Mercedes asked.

"Plan B," I said with a shrug. "We fight our way over there as best we can. We can't let Puck become infested."

"Okay, then, let's go avatars," Sam said. He closed his eyes and began the change to gorilla. Coarse, dark hair sprouted down his arms, and the skin on his face began to change into a black, rubbery mask. Mercedes was bulking up into the shaggy form of a bear, and Kurt was sprouting feathers- which was a good idea- we needed some air coverage in a situation like this.

_[Santana,]_ Brittany reminded softly.

Oh, yeah.

I focused on the bull DNA inside me, and felt my body shifting and changing. It didn't hurt- it never did- but I could hear the sounds of my organs rearranging themselves, and my bones crunching and grinding into new positions, so it always felt like it _should_ hurt. It was a weird experience. My spine elongated into a tail, which I flicked nervously as I shifted onto all fours, my fingers curling into themselves and my hands hardening into hooves. My face bulged outward, my nostrils flared, my teeth moved in my mouth. My hair sucked up into my head so that I was bald for a second, and then dark brown fur spread across my entire body. My ears migrated up the side of my head, stretching slightly into the thin, long ears of the bull. Horns erupted from my forehead, stretching out and out and tapering into sharp points.

I snorted and tossed my head.

I was ready to kick some ass.

* * *

It was utter pandemonium when we came barging out of that cafeteria. The door blew off its hinges and the Yeerks were definitely not prepared for a bull, a gorilla, a bear, and an Andalite to come exploding out.

Sue was screaming orders into her megaphone, but we had a head start, and not a single human-Controller could stand in the way of any of us. We would just roll over them, and they knew that. So they mostly moved out of our way as we charged towards the contraband locker.

"STOP THEM!" Sue screamed into the megaphone.

_[Guys, Hork-Bajir on your tails,]_ Kurt informed us from above. He was mostly shielded from view by the darkness at the top of the cavern, but he could see everything going on below.

When we reached the shed and took out the two surprised Hork-Bajir that were standing guard in front of it. Sam punched one in the face and Mercedes knocked one out with a great swipe of her bear paw to the side of his head, sending him flying several feet.

Sam ripped the huge metal lock off the doors and then popped them open, revealing its contents. Inside were several open barrels of oatmeal, just chilling.

_[Okay, how're we gonna do this?]_ I asked as I eyed the barrels. There were at least five of them, and several smaller plastic containers as well.

Sam reached for a barrel and picked it up. He lifted it easily, mindful not to spill the contents._ [I guess I'm just going to throw it. Carefully.]_

Mercedes roared as several Hork-Bajir reached us. She engaged them, slashing wildly with her paws and rearing up on her hind legs to maul them. Brittany whipped her tail, slicing into them. But the two of them managed to hold the Hork-Bajir off while Sam and I deliberated how to get the oatmeal to the water.

_[Should we try and tell the Visser our plan?]_ I asked.

Sam hefted the barrel into a more comfortable position, then shrugged. _[I think this will get his attention.]_ He took a deep breath, and then roared loudly in his gorilla voice, lifting the barrel high above his head, ready to heave it into the Pool. I rolled my eyes- he had obviously been watching too many King Kong movies.

"STOP!" Visser Seven commanded suddenly into the megaphone.

Everyone froze. We waited patiently for long, tense moments.

_[Your move, Visser,]_ I said finally in my best "arrogant Andalite" voice.

Visser Seven paused. It was dead silent, except for the heavy breathing of Sam, who was still holding the barrel over his head, and Mercedes, who had just been in the fight of her life up until about ten seconds ago. Brittany stood on her dainty hooves, looking no worse than if she had just modeled for a feature in _Vogue_ about Andalites.

"I suppose you hope to trade your friend," Sue gestured to Puck beside her, who was still being restrained by two Hork-Bajir, "for the lives of my fellow helpless Yeerks in the Pool." Sue paused again. "There's perhaps fifteen hundred Yeerks in there. We'd lose perhaps five or six hundred to the oatmeal madness before we could get it contained and cleaned up."

Sue's eyes narrowed coldly. "Your fellow Andalite for the lives of six hundred Yeerks."

I felt a chill run up my spine, and I knew Brittany was right. I _knew_ it. But Sue continued, laughing ruthlessly. "Do you honestly think I _wouldn't_ trade all of them, _every last one_, for a captured Andalite host body? _You_ must be the ones on oatmeal!"

My stomach dropped. _[Sam,]_ I said quickly as Sue opened her mouth to continue.

With an unexpected heave, Sam threw the barrel of oatmeal into the Pool. It landed with a loud splash in the center of the water, and the contents began to dissolve into the water. Sam turned and reached for another barrel while the Yeerks scrambled.

Sue laughed, unfazed, as Sam threw the second barrel. "GET THEM!" She waved her arm wildly, and Dracon beams began firing in our direction.

Sam turned and the third barrel of oatmeal exploded in his hands, spraying sizzling pieces of oatmeal over our little group. My thick skin protected me, but shit was getting out of control _fast_.

_[We've gotta get the rest of the oatmeal in the water!]_ Sam cried, reaching for the fourth barrel.

_[No, we have to save Puck!]_ Mercedes argued, tackling another Hork-Bajir down. Brittany snapped her tail and a severed arm flew past me.

_[All right, this isn't happening fast enough,]_ I growled as Sam finally grabbed the fourth barrel. I planted my hooves and charged into the shed, then tossed my head and kicked my back legs, sending the remaining containers and barrels rolling and flying towards the water in a blur of plastic. One of the barrels smashed on the dock, spilling oatmeal along the edges. The remaining barrel rolled farther out. The swirl of the water spread the contents quickly, and I was satisfied. _[That should keep them busy for a minute. And now, Puck. Let's go!]_

I charged towards the stage, but there was what seemed like an endless amount of Hork-Bajir closing in, and it was impossible to get closer. I butted them with my horns, reared up and kicked them down and stomped them, but it was no use. We soon found ourselves overwhelmingly outnumbered and overpowered, but no way was I giving in. Dracon beams fired in our direction and I felt searing pain in my shoulder as one found its mark. The smell of my own skin and fur burning made my stomach roll, but I pressed onward. It wasn't until I took two more hits to my ribs and my hindquarters that I began to stagger back, bleeding and burnt. It was painful and my rear leg was beginning to go numb. But _Puck_-

_[Guys, you've gotta get out of here!]_ Puck said, despairingly. _[They'll kill or infest all of you, and then we're all _fucked_.]_

_[Puck, no, we can't-]_ Mercedes pleaded desperately. I wanted to argue, too. There was no way we could just leave him. But deep down, there was a small part of me that realized he was right. My mind was beginning to go hazy. My bull body was beginning to go into shock. We were all getting run down, and if we didn't make a hasty escape soon, we would surely get slaughtered. But we couldn't leave him-

_[Listen to me,]_ Puck said, his voice growing increasingly angrier. _[You guys are outnumbered. If you get caught, then there's no one to stop the Yeerks.]_

_[But-]_ Mercedes choked. I knew she knew Puck was right. But she didn't want to accept it. None of us did.

_[You can't save me,]_ Puck said gently, almost as if he'd just realized it himself.

_[He's right, Wheezy,]_ I snapped. I hated myself for it, but I had to try and follow Puck's advice to at least escape. _[We've gotta bail. If we don't get the fuck out of here, we might as well kiss _everything_ good-bye!]_

_[We might as well do that, _anyways_,]_ Kurt cried bitterly_. [If they keep Puck, we're done.]_

_[We're _definitely_ done if we're all_ dead,] Sam chimed in, disgustedly.

_[Exactly,]_ Puck said, defeated. _[Maybe, someday, you can- you can get me-]_ He trailed off. None of us had anything to say in response. Maybe, someday, _what?_ We'd rescue Puck? Meaning we had to leave him _now_ to this fate? I grew angry. Why'd he have to go and get himself caught?

_[Let's make a hasty retreat,]_ Brittany said, her voice small and sad. Then, she added mournfully, _[Good-bye, Puck.]_

_[Santana?]_ Puck asked quietly, privately, as we turned to fight our way out of the mass of Hork-Bajir, making our way back to the Macy's staircase.

_[Yeah?]_ I asked tensely.

_[Take care- take care of my family. Please? And don't tell them what happened. I want them to remember me as I was.]_

_[I will,] _I promised, feeling the sorrow and rage rising in me. I tapped into the store of anger in my bull instincts, and let myself go, gouging and impaling my way to the stairs with a new purpose.

_[I can't believe this,]_ Mercedes said, openly sobbing, though her bear wasn't visibly showing it as we finally managed to open a path to the staircase. She smacked a Hork-Bajir back with a mighty blow and rolled right over him.

_[Stay strong,]_ Sam said gently as he smashed the face of a Hork-Bajir down into the hard, packed dirt floor of the cavern.

Kurt swooped down, perching high up on the staircase, still shrouded in shadows_. [They're pursuing us,]_ he said, his tone unrecognizable. We finally reached the base of the staircase and hid in the darkness, catching our breath and recuperating before we made the charge up the stairs. My back legs were buckling so badly, I was surprised I was still standing.

A long, loud howl echoed across the cavern and sent a chill up my spine. Even as a bull.

_[I've gotta change,]_ I gasped. I began the transformation back to human. Brittany stood over me protectively, one stalk eye watching my change, the other constantly scanning our surroundings. Now that Puck was in custody, there was no reason to hide the fact that we were humans. The Yeerks would find out soon enough. As soon as I was myself, I ignored the exhaustion creeping into my limbs and began the change to cheetah.

"Let them go!" Sue commanded into her megaphone, just as the pursuing Hork-Bajir came close enough for me to make out their distinct forms from the surrounding darkness. "I'll discover their whereabouts soon enough, now that I have _him_." She gestured to Puck, who was still struggling under his captors. "Besides, I want them to _see_ this!" She crowed. The approaching Hork-Bajir turned away from us, and the human-Controllers who were gathered in various clusters around the Pool warily focused their attention to the stage, where Sue was standing tall, triumphant, even.

We waited, gathered wearily at the base of the stairs, huddled in shadows and watching in horror as Sue's expression twisted into seething anger at the sight of Puck struggling under the hold of the two Hork-Bajir, who seemed afraid to cause him any direct harm.

"Incompetent _morons_! I'll show you how to deal with Andalite _scum_!" Sue yelled angrily. She nodded sharply to one of the Hork-Bajir, who moved with immediate urgency. A sickening snap resounded, echoing in the cavern, and Puck howled loudly in pain. His back leg was twisted at an unnatural angle.

_[Oh, God,]_ Mercedes wailed. _[They broke his leg!]_ She lowered her bear head, shaking it back and forth, as if trying to force the thoughts and the images away. _[Oh, God, oh, God, _no_.]_

_[Noah!] _I cried out, concerned.

_[Fucking _get out_ of here,]_ Puck growled, struggling to control the underlying pain laced in his voice.

_SNAP!_

The wolf howled out again, the pain clear in its resounding vocals. Sue had snapped his front leg this time, leaving him collapsed and wriggling weakly on the ground. But still, he struggled.

_[Noah, stop!]_ Mercedes cried tearfully. I turned away. It was painful to watch. _[They'll stop hurting you if you-]_

_[And just let them take me?]_ Puck demanded in agony_. [I'm not going down without a fight!]_

"Lift him up," Sue said coldly, still in that damned megaphone. I had a sudden fantasy of beating her to death with it. She was grinning cruelly, and I glared at her from across the cavern, hate burning in my gaze.

The Hork-Bajir grabbed Puck harshly by the scruff of his neck and lifted him to Sue's level. Puck kicked feebly in the air with the two legs that still worked. He howled again, snapping his jaws in Sue's direction, attempting to bite her. I knew that it would inevitably cause him more pain, but my heart beat proudly for him at his stupid bravery. Until it broke at the Hork-Bajir's response.

There was a loud thump as they sliced him across the muzzle, and he howled louder, thrashing wildly until the Hork-Bajir wrapped his clawed hand around his snout, effectively restraining his mouth and stilling his head.

And then, with the biggest, sickest triumphant smile, Sue lowered her own head to Puck's, laying her ear against Puck's pointed wolf one.

Nothing had ever sent chills up my spine the way hearing Puck's screams suddenly go silent did.

_[AAAAAAAGGHHH-]_

And that's when we knew it was all over.

* * *

_[We can't do anything for him now!]_ Sam cried. He knew what it felt like. I shuddered at the thought.

While Visser Seven made the transfer from Sue's body to Puck's, we got to our feet and scrambled around to the front of the stairs that led to Macy's.

We darted up them, panicked. I turned back briefly and caught a glimpse of Puck's wolf transforming to his own human body, Sue's human body crumpled at his feet with the two Hork-Bajir towering over her, and knew we had just run out of time.

Our secret was out.

The cavern had erupted into cheers. People were screaming wildly, applauding. I guess to the Yeerks, this was a huge moment. The first Controller with the ability to transform- technology usually only belonging to Andalites. This put them on semi-equal grounds, and was the last piece of technology they hadn't been able to obtain, at least, according to Brittany. But now they had it. They had acquired a body with the transforming power, even if it wasn't Andalite.

The sound of the crowd jeering and congratulating the fact that my _friend_ Puck had just had his free will taken away from him made me sick, haunted me as I climbed the steps. It was a terrifying sound, because it also signified that _we were no longer safe. _

Our secret was _out_.

We ran, the fear driving us onward. We made it up those stairs in record time. You know how you can walk into a scary situation, and be perfectly fine, initially- but the second you turn to run, the second you _acknowledge_ that fear, it _consumes_ you, until you're fleeing in mindless terror? That's what running up those steps felt like.

Our greatest fear had just come true. We were done for.

_Our secret was out._

_[Shit, they know _everything_! _EVERYTHING_!]_ Kurt wailed as we reached the top of the stairs.

None of us were safe.

* * *

We didn't bother de-transforming when we reached the door. We didn't have time, didn't care. We burst through that Macy's door and tore through the store- a collection of circus freaks. We knocked aside clothing racks, toppled over displays of purses. It didn't matter. _Nothing_ mattered now but getting out. We had to get our families out.

Most of the people in the mall screamed and moved out of the way. Several of them glared coldly at us- Controllers. Some people just stood, so surprised they couldn't even move. It's not every day you see a cheetah, a gorilla, a bear, a bird and an alien deer running through the mall.

We made it out to the parking lot and to Kurt's SUV. It was dark outside, so we lost the crowd of people that had attempted to follow us from the mall.

_[Okay, what's the plan?]_ I snapped, panting.

_[_I'm_ going to get my _father_,]_ Kurt said coldly, ruffling his feathers. He began to transform. He was running out of time in his bird form. _[_No way_ am I letting him fall to the Yeerks. And with Finn already a Controller, he'll go straight home and-]_

_[We have to decide as a group,]_ Sam said firmly. _[We can't just run off and-]_

"_FUCK_ THIS GROUP!" Kurt screamed, now fully human. His hands were balled into fists and he had tears in his eyes. "I've only ever been a part of it to keep my father _safe_- and now-" he began to sob.

_[I'm not _saying_ we abandon your father, Kurt,]_ Sam told him genuinely, his tone firm_. [But we have to have a plan. We can't just charge in there and snatch him up.]_

Brittany placed a comforting hand on Kurt's shoulder but he swatted it off. "_Don't_," he said angrily. He took a deep breath to compose himself. "I'm going. You all do what you want." He began the transformation to hawk, and within minutes he was tearing away through the sky.

It was silent for a moment as we acknowledged Kurt's departure. It stung a little- a _lot_. We were falling apart; but we had more pressing matters. We had to keep it together as best we could.

_[Okay, we're running out of time,]_ I said, stating the obvious. _[What are we doing?]_

_[Obviously we all want to get our _own_ families out,] _Mercedes hinted quietly, sounding on edge.

I shrugged my cheetah shoulders_. [My parents probably aren't even home,]_ I said nonchalantly.

_[That is correct,]_ Brittany agreed with a nod. _[They are in Sweden.]_

_[What? How do you know that?]_

_[They left a note for you on the counter. I saw it this morning when I went to answer the door for Rory.]_

_[What the fuck are they doing in _Sweden_?]_

_[They mentioned that your father had a medical convention to attend?]_

_[Well, that's nice,]_ I muttered. _[They didn't even _invite_ me-]_

_[So that's one less thing to worry about,]_ Sam cut in quickly.

Oh. Right.

_[Right,] _I said._ [We can worry about them later. For now, we have to get the rest of our families out.]_

_[So where to?]_ Mercedes asked nervously. I had to admire her- of course she wanted to fly straight to her own house, like Kurt had, but she was sticking with the group. We were all in this together. But _Puck_- my heart ached.

_[Puck's house,]_ I said instantly.

_[The Yeerks will probably go there first,]_ Sam agreed. _[And since Puck's been taken, they don't have anyone to save them.] _I smiled internally at Sam's heroic thought process. He was always looking out for people. It made me proud of him, just a little.

_[Then, we hit Mercedes' house,]_ he continued, looking at Mercedes. _[Kurt lives near you so we'll stop by his house to see if he needs help before we head out to my house, which will probably be the Yeerks' last stop since I live so far out of town.]_

_[Okay, so-]_ I looked at the SUV. _[Are we flying, or..?]_

_[No, we're gonna need transportation for our families. We'll take the SUV. Kurt left the keys in the magnetic box under the door.]_

_[I've gotta change to fit, anyways,]_ Mercedes said regretfully. _[So I'll just go ahead and fly to Puck's house, scope out the place. The Yeerks might already be there, and if so, we don't want to walk into an ambush.]_

_[Good idea.] _Sam nodded and Mercedes began the change. _[And Brittany-]_

"I'll drive."

We all paused and looked at her incredulously. I hadn't even realized she had changed. She was being really sneaky about that lately. I smiled at her and nodded slightly, but then Sam opened his mouth.

_[Uh, no, Brittany- that's okay,]_ he said_. [I'll take the wheel.]_

Brittany's face fell slightly, but she chivalrously opened the passenger door and I hopped up gracefully into the seat. She reached across me for the seatbelt, and even though I protested, she insisted on buckling me in. Even though I was a cheetah.

"Safety first," she whispered before she pressed a delicate kiss to my cat nose. I wrinkled it slightly at her.

And now I was a cheetah wearing a seatbelt.

Brittany climbed into the backseat, and Sam squeezed into the driver's seat. Even with the seat all the way back, he still managed to break the arm rests and push the chair off the floor tracks it was hooked to.

_[Oops,]_ he said guiltily at the sound of metal snapping. I rolled my feline eyes at him.

He cranked the SUV to life, and we were off.

* * *

_[Do you even know _how_ to drive?]_ I exclaimed as Sam swerved on the residential back road we were _flying_ down, narrowly avoiding a parked car and instead plowing into a trash can, which went flying off the front bumper. He cranked the wheel and swayed back into the middle of the street, straddling the center line. But at least he wasn't on the sidewalk this time.

_[Look, it's hard to drive in this _bulky body_-]_

_[Well then maybe we should've let Britt drive, she can't possibly be _worse_!] _I retorted.

From the backseat, Brittany beamed. I caught her shining eyes in the rearview mirror.

Sam made another quick turn and his large elbow smashed into the buttons on the center console. Music came blaring out of the speaker at an ear-splitting volume.

"_MM-bop! Ba duba dop, ba du dop!"_

_[WHAT THE FUCK, IS THAT _HANSON_?!]_ I snarled, pawing at the radio. _[How is this song on the radio, _even_?! Why is Kurt listening to such a gay station?!]_

"I believe it is a compact disc," Brittany offered helpfully, talking loudly over the music.

_[Like that makes it any less gay!]_

She leaned forward to press the button and this time the radio came on, which wasn't exactly what I had in _mind_-

"_Iiiii can't seeeee meeeee lov-ing no-boooody but youuuu, for all my liiiiiife!"_

The SUV lurched to the right, throwing me against the glass. Not for the first time, I was thankful I was wearing a seatbelt.

_[Britt!]_ I growled.

Her finger jammed another button and the radio changed again, and Sam swerved left, throwing me tight against the seatbelt.

"_Just like a refund I make her bring dat ass back, and she bring dat ass back, because I like dat! Shawty wanna thuuuug, bottles in the cluuuub-"_

_[Oh my God, Britt, just turn it off!]_

She smashed the power button and it was blessedly silent- except for the squealing tires of Sam taking turns at outrageous speeds.

My nails were hooked into the upholstery of the seat beneath me and the fur along my back was on edge as the SUV swerved down the road, finally screeching to a halt outside of Puck's house.

As soon as the SUV stopped, Mercedes, as herself, came charging out the front door, with Puck's mom and younger sister in tow. Both of Puck's family members looked like they'd just met the Antichrist and Brittany opened the door to the back seat to let them inside while Mercedes began the change back to owl to make the journey two streets over to her own house.

"Hello, Missus Puck, it's quite wonderful to meet you!" Brittany said cheerfully, her face all smiles as she ushered them in. Puck's mother gave her a horrified look and began chanting something like a prayer in another language, her eyes closed and her face solemn. Puck's little sister just looked at Brittany and blinked in wonder.

The SUV lurched suddenly and I whipped my head to look at Sam.

_[Sorry,]_ he said sheepishly, shifting the SUV into "drive"; then we were tearing down the street in the direction of Mercedes' house.

A truck approached us, its headlights blinding, and instead of slowing down or stopping, which might have been the _safe_ thing to do, naturally Sam swerved to the curb, barely avoiding the mailboxes, and instead, slamming through a line of trash cans. They went flying, trash bags spilling out onto the street- one of them we ended up crushing under the front left wheel. My cheetah brain, which was already panicking from the journey, was making me hiss out in terror.

_[Do you _hate_ trash cans?]_ I demanded_. [Is _that_ it?! Do you just HATE TRASH CANS?!]_

_[Aaaahhh!]_ Sam cried as one hit and bounced off the front bumper and then crashed into the windshield before going over top of us. When we finally reached Mercedes house, Sam got out of the SUV and quickly loped, on his knuckles, into the house to help Mercedes with her parents.

_[Britt, move to the driver's seat,]_ I said, my feline heart still pounding and my senses still on edge. _[I'm _not_ dealing with any more trash cans.]_

She didn't bother to hide her grin as she carefully moved and slid into the driver's seat, pausing to buckle her seatbelt. I huffed, and she leaned over and scratched behind my ear, calming me. "Safety first," she murmured again, and I gave her a literal catty grin, my heart racing for a different reason. Even running for my life she managed to make me swoon. What even?

Moments later, Mercedes and Sam came rushing outside, this time with her parents behind her, looking shocked and worried. They had a small suitcase and Mercedes opened the back door to let them climb into the SUV beside Puck's mom and sister.

I was shocked. So far this was going pretty smoothly. Maybe Mercedes had a natural talent for talking to people that we hadn't realized or utilized. I didn't have time to ask her what her explanation tactic was, though, because Sam was already talking to me.

_[Santana, Kurt's house is right down the street. Remember, they have a Controller in the house, so the Yeerks might already be there. Let's head over there like this,]_ he gestured to his gorilla form. _[Mercedes, fly cover, okay?] _

Mercedes nodded, already beginning the transformation to owl again. Her parents watched her with wide, stunned eyes. I couldn't believe she still had energy to transform, with all the rapid changes she'd done. It made my head spin as Brittany leaned over to unbuckle my seatbelt and I jumped down to the ground gracefully.

_[Brittany- uh. Try not to hit anything,]_ Sam said awkwardly.

_[Says the trashcan _serial killer_,] _I muttered. _[Follow us, but stay a safe distance, okay, Britt?]_

I caught her blue eyes, holding her gaze for a second. We exchanged a quick, worried look:

_Be careful._

Then I was following Sam down the street, easily overtaking him with my superior speed and beating him to the house.

We reached the lawn just as three black Hummers did. And it didn't take a detective to figure out who those Hummers belonged to.

_[Kurt!]_ Sam called worriedly_. [The Yeerks are here!]_

_[Shit! We are about to have a fight on this lawn!]_ I growled, bracing myself as the Hummers came to a screeching halt across the street.

_[KURT!]_ Sam roared again. _[Get out, NOW!]_

The front door opened quickly, and Burt, crying and angry, rushed out, with an equally angry Kurt following just as the doors to the Hummers opened and out stepped several male human-Controllers, dressed in sharp suits.

_[What the hell _is_ this, the _Men in Black_?!]_ I cried as they unholstered their weapons.

_[Watch out! They've got Dracon beams, too!]_ Mercedes called from up above.

_[Shit!]_ I yelled again as I leaped behind a car in the driveway of the house next door, chunks of dirt and grass blowing from a hole in the ground right where I had just been standing.

_[Get him to the SUV!]_ Sam ordered, and Kurt, crouching behind vehicles and various landscaping, escorted Burt quickly to where Brittany had the SUV waiting a few houses down the street. Mercedes swooped down and raked one of the Controllers with her talons, gouging deep lines into his face. He dropped his Dracon beam to clutch at it.

_[I've got this bloody mess where my face used to be,]_ I sang to myself as I slinked to the edge of the car I was hiding behind to try and see how many guys there actually were. The Yeerks were distracted with shooting at Mercedes for a moment, giving Kurt enough time to reach the SUV.

I heard the door slamming, indicating that Burt was safely in the SUV, and decided we didn't need to hesitate any longer.

_[Britt, go!]_ I yelled. To Sam I said, _[We've gotta bail! _Now_! We're sitting ducks out here!]_ On that note, the car I was behind began to sizzle, disintegrating. I could feel the heat pouring off of it in waves, and it sent an uneasy feeling through my cheetah body. The cheetah was scared- it didn't like what that heat meant.

_[Agreed!]_ Sam said tersely. He was hunkered down next to one of the Hummers. He had knocked out one guy, and laid the one Mercedes had injured out onto the pavement, unconscious. The third occupant of that Hummer had moved behind one of the other vehicles, and they were all attempting to get into a tactical position to locate Sam in their sights.

The sound of screaming tires made me look towards the SUV. Brittany had thrown the vehicle in reverse, floored it, and then, with skills I hadn't known she'd possessed, she'd whipped the car around, at full speed, and shot forward down the street. It was some _Mission: Impossible_ shit.

_[Holy fuck,]_ I gaped.

_[Where'd she learn to drive like that?]_ Sam demanded as he ran to my position and then followed me as I high-tailed it around the corner of the house, towards the backyard- avoiding getting hit, but barely. Dracon fire erupted the ground all around us, and sprays of hot dirt hit my side as I made it out of sight.

_[Um. Wikipedia?]_ I offered. Kurt had a huge, wooden privacy fence, but one punch from Sam and the gate popped open.

I heard the doors of the Hummers slamming closed and at least one vehicle taking off in pursuit of Brittany.

_[Mercedes, stay with them!]_ Sam ordered.

_[On it!]_

_[Kurt!]_ Sam called.

Kurt didn't answer as we tore through his backyard as fast as possible. We needed distance to re-transform, because we were never going to lose them as a cheetah and a gorilla and still make it to Sam's house in a timely manner. I leaped and clawed up the backside of the wooden fence, hauling myself over and into the yard behind it. Sam just charged through it. It wouldn't have held his weight anyways, if he'd tried to climb it.

We continued to tear through people's backyards in a blur, busting through fences and zigzagging around lawn furniture and over Power Wheels. I ran up a slide and leapt from it over another fence that Sam smashed a gorilla-sized hole in. All the while I was painfully aware of the sounds of the footsteps of the pursuing Yeerks as they pounded after us.

_TSEEEWWW!_

A Dracon beam narrowly missed us, instead hitting the pool in the backyard we were running through. The water sizzled as it evaporated into steam, and we banked a hard left, crossing over into another adjoining backyard.

"AAAGHH!" The closest Controller cried suddenly. We looked just in time to see Kurt flapping hard to gain altitude after spending quality time acquainting his talons with that man's eyeballs.

_[I'm here, guys!]_ he said, sounding stressed. _[But you need to get airborne or we are not going to make it out of here alive, we've got more Controllers closing in on us!]_

_[Right,]_ I nodded, looking wildly around for somewhere we could change. Where? _Where_?

_[I hate to do it,]_ Sam started ashamedly, and I followed his gaze to the back door of the house connected to the yard we were currently standing in. My stomach froze and I swallowed. If there were people home, they were about to be victims of the Yeerks. It wasn't a very good decision, but we needed a distraction. And there was always the off chance that they were _already_ Controllers-

_[No choice,]_ I said ruefully, and followed him as he punched the back door open.

We charged inside. No time to think about what we were doing. No time to think about the poor people who were about to get the surprise of their life. No time to think about the violation of someone else's home-

The house was dark and my eyes adjusted after a moment, but not much. It was silent. It was too much to hope no one was home, although it wasn't that late, and it _was_ Saturday night. It wasn't impossible. We turned down a dark hallway, knocking over a small table and hearing a lamp crash to the floor, and stormed up the stairs and into an equally dark bedroom.

Sam slammed the door and we began our transformations- but not before he broke a window in the bedroom for us to make our escape. I felt sorry for when these people came home and discovered the mess we'd made of their house, and the bigger mess the Yeerks were about to make following us.

No time to think about that.

I changed as fast as I could, the adrenaline in my veins spurring me on. My heart was racing, even as it grew to my normal human heart and then shrank to flutter at the quicker pace of a bird's.

_[Guys, shit's about to get real,]_ Kurt said grimly from outside.

_[What do you mean?]_ I demanded, hoping my voice didn't sound as shaky as I thought. We were in the middle of a nightmare and I was still hoping I was going to wake up from it. I was almost completely bird, but I was dead if the Yeerks found us. Sam was just _starting_ his transformation to pigeon.

_[The owners of the house just pulled in the driveway.]_

My stomach dropped further. We had just sentenced these people to a life of enslavement.

_[Fuck.]_

I braced myself, heard the front door open, heard the silence as the owners processed the strangers in their house, processed the wreckage of their furniture.

"Ahhh!" a woman shrieked.

"What's going on here?" a man asked.

"Get them!" a male voice- one of the Controllers- yelled.

There was more screaming, a struggle, and I watched Sam as he finished his transformation. His eyes looked anguished. He had to choose between saving these people, who were unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time, and saving his own family. But it was _no_ choice. Maybe it was selfish, but our families were the reasons we were even fighting. As shitty as it was, we had pretty much chosen those poor people downstairs for this fate, in a way. Their distraction provided our chance for escape.

But it still sucked.

_[No choice,]_ he repeated, his tone painful. _[We're out of time.]_

I nodded my bird head and we flew out into the night.

_[I'm sorry,]_ I whispered to the people as we left their house in the distance. The sound of their screaming followed me for miles.

* * *

"Dad, Mom! Get Stevie and Stacy! We've gotta go NOW," Sam yelled as we burst into the house. We had, thankfully, made it to Sam's house before the Yeerks, and even before Brittany and the SUV. Mercedes was perched on the apex of the roof, looking like a white, feathered omen, keeping watch.

"What?" Sam's mother asked, coming slowly down the stairs. "We are all getting ready for _bed_, now, Sam-"

"Mom, _please_!" Sam pleaded.

"Your mom's right, Sam," his father said, stepping into the room from the den. He looked tired and angry, like he'd just been woken up from an awesome nap. He rubbed his temples, his jaw tensed. Seeing him reminded me of how drained I was becoming. But I still had adrenaline pumping through me, still had stuff to accomplish; I didn't have _time_ to be tired.

"But if we don't go NOW-" Sam started to protest.

"That's _enough_," his father snapped firmly. "Now, we've been very _concerned_ about you these past few weeks. You just haven't been _yourself_ lately, and-"

_[Hummer moving in!]_ Mercedes called from outside, her voice tense, strained.

"Dad, can we _please_ talk about this later?" Sam begged, his voice growing firmer. "We need to-"

"We most certainly will _not_-" Sam's father started, but I got tired of this circular argument. I stepped forward, my stance solid.

"Listen, folks," I snapped. I pointed out the front door. "There's a fuckload of alien body snatchers _seconds_ away from snatching _your_ bodies unless you come with us. _NOW_. Also, Sam and I can turn into animals."

They looked at me like I was crazy.

And maybe I _was_. I felt like it for a split second, hearing myself. I half wondered if I was still in a nightmare. I had a feeling of déjà vu, like the whole situation was surreal. But I knew I'd never been in that situation before. I shook myself out of it and snapped into action.

"Sam: _show_ them!" I said, looking at him.

Sam began the transformation to gorilla, both to show his parents and to prepare for the inevitable confrontation with the Yeerks we were about to have, because we were _not_ wrapping this up quickly enough. Sam's parents just weren't _getting it_- how had Mercedes convinced her family? And Puck's? I wish I'd had her skills.

"Sam?! Oh my _god_, are you all _right_?" his mom asked, concerned, as Sam began to change. I almost slapped my forehead at her blonde-ness. Now I know where Sam got his dumbness sometimes. Sam's father stood, stunned, his face expressionless as he watched.

"YAY! Sam's an X-MAN!" Sam's younger brother, Stevie, cheered. He danced around in a gleeful circle, clapping. Stacy just looked baffled.

_[Guys, they're on us,]_ Mercedes said tersely. _[It's now or never!]_

_[Please, we have to go _now_!]_ Sam pleaded once he'd completed the transformation.

"Sam? Was that you?" His mom asked, looking around.

_Seriously?_

I cursed as I heard the squealing tires signaling that the Yeerks were about to arrive. Nothing I had in my avatar collection was going to stop a Hummer, but I wasn't going to do _any_ damage to it at all as a cheetah. I had to go bull again. I focused and began to bulk up immediately.

"_Woah_! Santana's an X-Man, _too_!" Stevie screamed with wonder, whooping ecstatically. It made me smile a little on the inside. His enthusiasm reminded me of how cool it actually was to be able to change, and my own excitement over the power, initially. It felt like so long ago. I got lost in my thoughts as Sam began to give his family urgent directions.

_[-to the garage. Mercedes will give you instructions on where to go to avoid pursuit-]_

"Mercedes is part of this, too?!" Sam's mom asked, appalled. She looked surprised, like she expected _me_ to be part of something outrageous like this, but _not_ good, wholesome _Mercedes_. It kind of peeved me off as I finished my transformation to bull. Not that I minded- anger was a helpful tool.

_[Yes, now please, you need to go,]_ Sam said anxiously. _[It's about to get _very_ ugly.]_

"Let's go, Mary," Sam's father said, strangely calm as he held the door leading out to the garage open for his family. Stevie and Stacy immediately ran into the garage, Stevie still babbling with kid excitement about Sam and I being X-Men.

_[Mercedes, guide my parents and Brittany. Somewhere safe,]_ Sam said miserably as he watched them leave the house.

_[Where?]_ she asked.

_[I don't know!]_ he barked, suddenly frustrated. It surprised me. _[Just- _somewhere_.]_

_[Okay,]_ she said in a small voice. I heard the car starting in the garage and then roll out onto the main street.

_[Kurt? Where are you?]_ Sam called.

_[I'm up high,]_ he responded sounding far away.

_[Okay, stay there, we need surveillance.]_

_[Got it. Your family's driving away- one of the Hummers is pursuing them.]_

_[Mercedes will take care of that,] _Sam said desperately, almost as if he was trying to convince himself, too. _[What's going on outside?]_

_[There's one Hummer already outside, waiting. Two more coming down the street.]_

I took a deep breath and turned towards the door, taking a moment to prepare myself. I pawed the carpet for a moment to pump myself up. My sharp hoof sliced it and I felt guilty for half a second before the sad realization that Sam's family wouldn't be returning to this house anytime soon settled in and I refocused my thoughts on what could possibly be waiting for us outside. We had no idea what we were charging into, but we had no choice. We had to delay those Hummers, or we were never going to get our families out safely, for good.

_[Ready?]_ Sam asked me gently.

I caught his dark eyes and nodded my bull head. I snorted. And then, abruptly, we both barreled out the front door. I didn't fit, obviously, so part of the frame crumbled as my bulky shoulder smashed into it. I felt guilty again but remembered much more quickly about our situation.

We reached the driveway just in time to witness eight male Controllers exiting two of the Hummers quickly, as if they'd rehearsed it. They probably _had_. I briefly thought about how silly that was for a moment, before I chided myself for losing focus. _Again_. All of the Controllers were leveling Dracon beams at us. I lowered my head, ready to charge, when something stopped me.

The door to the last Hummer opened dramatically, and out stepped the last person I expected to confront on the battlefield, though it should've been obvious that we would meet, eventually.

Out stepped Finn.

_[Oh, fuck. Shit just got complicated.]_

* * *

**Okay,first of all, I apologize for leaving you on a cliffhanger AGAIN. The next part is lengthy, and happens quickly, and I really didn't want to leave you on a cliffhanger with that scene instead. So this was a nicer cliff than that one. That one would've had jagged rocks and stuff at the bottom. So. ._.**

**I also promise to only leave you with one more "sudden person" cliffhanger in the future, I know that gets old fast, lol. Thanks for bearing with me!**

**Also, for all my Animorphs peeps out there, I hope you can appreciate the "trash cans" joke from the original series. It was always a dear one to the fandom. Also Hanson, Lil' Wayne and The Turtles do not belong to me. I just threw their songs in there for fun. :)**

**Sorry not a lot of Brittana this chapter, but they will have a lot of interaction in the coming ones, including the moment when we _finally_ get the big reveal on Brittany's mission- so stay tuned!**

**As always, questions or comments or reviews are always welcome- if you feel like it. :) **

**See you next Monday!**


	15. Qualms

**Hello, everyone. Hope you guys are staying safe out there!**

**Honestly, I didn't even know a hurricane existed until it was raining several days ago. Such is the life of a Floridian- hurricanes are ho-hum. LOL.**

**But for those of you losing your hurricane virginities or whatever, stay safe! :)**

**Anyways. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, etc. etc. the story! Keep on keepin' on. ;)**

**Also, there's a shit-ton of spoilers flying around. And to that I again quote my sponsor: Keep calm and ship Brittana! (It's unsinkable!)**

**Happy reading! :D**

* * *

I stalled for about two seconds upon seeing Finn emerge from the Hummer. Then I was a blur of action. I charged the nearest vehicle; I had to stop the Yeerks from pursuing Sam's family. And Brittany- I had to keep her safe.

I was prepared for the impact of my horns hitting the open door of the Hummer, but not for how jarring it actually was. I was momentarily stunned for a long three seconds before I realized that my horns had impaled the metal of the door and were caught in it. I twisted my head and heard the sound of snapping metal, and the door to the Hummer ripped off, still attached to my horns. I tossed my head and the door slid off and went flying, conveniently slamming into two Controllers nearby and knocking them to the ground. I wasted no time in using the fallen door as a ramp, crushing their bodies underneath and ensuring they weren't getting up anytime soon.

I heard the roar of Sam's gorilla and the screech of Kurt's raptor, and was vaguely aware that they were fighting nearby. But I was mostly focused on taking out the Controllers quickly. It wouldn't be long before they realized they were on the losing end and packed up to pursue the others. I couldn't let that happen.

I spied one Controller sitting in the passenger seat of a nearby vehicle, taking careful aim out the window at Sam, and charged. When I reached the door I spun and kicked my back legs into it, denting it severely. It certainly got the Controller's attention and he screamed and fired blindly at me as I repeated the motion until the door crumpled off. I felt the pain of his Dracon beam grazing the top of my back, and it angered me further.

"Get back!" He yelled, firing again. This time the beam singed my left ear off, and I flinched with pain and bellowed with rage. Was he _trying_ to piss me off?

"I'll kill you!" He threatened, trying to climb to the backseat to escape me.

_[Nope,]_ I said dully as a well-placed kick caught him in the face, sending him flying across the center console and into the opposite door. He hit it with a loud thud and slumped against it, unconscious. Or dead. I didn't know which, and I didn't really have time to care.

A perfectly circular burn hole appeared in my right shoulder and I bellowed in pain as I felt the muscle dissolving, turning angrily to the source of the beam: another male Controller, who froze in terror as he caught my deadly gaze and realized there was nothing standing in the way between me and him. His expression turned fearful as I wildly charged him. He shot me again but I didn't even feel it. I was far too angry, and it didn't matter. It didn't even slow me down. I hit him full force, one horn driving through his arm, the other one locking against his side and my head impacted him square in the chest. He was tangled up in my horns as my momentum carried us forward. We stopped suddenly as I collided with the front of another Hummer, the Controller's fragile human body smashed between my head and the front of the vehicle. I literally felt his bones crumbling under the impact. His arm, which my horn had impaled, had torn off from the force, and after I regained my senses, I took a step back, watching as his battered body fell to the pavement with a thump.

The smell of blood filled my flared nostrils, triggering something in my bull brain. The bull didn't like the smell- it was not a predator. The mixture of the bull's panic and my own anger and rage made it very tough to control the form. The bull wanted to _run_, to escape. It didn't feel safe, it felt penned in, challenged.

I looked around wildly, my vision growing dark around the edges, blurry as the bull's panic flooded me. How many were left? _How many threats were left?_ Sam had taken out several Controllers on the lawn next door, but there was still at least five or six still actively shooting, one of them Finn. I turned my focus from one to the next, trying to figure out who to take out next. It was dark and my vision wasn't that great- I had to look for the flash of the Dracon fire.

_[Aaaghh!]_ Kurt cried suddenly, and I turned just in time to see him falling to the ground, one wing fluttering weakly, the other one completely burned off. He'd been hit!

_[Kurt, transform! I'll cover you!]_ Sam cried, picking up a guy like he weighed as much as a pillow and throwing him into the side of a Hummer. The guy didn't get up.

Kurt fell behind a car, so I didn't see his transformation.

But I did see Finn moving towards him.

* * *

It all happened quickly after that.

Kurt, fully human, stood up shakily. Sam did a good job of taking out the other Controllers, but somehow he didn't see Finn; I don't know how, the guy looks like Frankenteen.

Carefully, Finn aimed his Dracon beam at Kurt, preparing to fire. My mind went blank. Could I reach him in time?

Finn's arm shook for a moment as he aimed. His expression looked conflicted. Was he having doubts? Was the _real_ Finn, inside, fighting back against his Yeerk?

I didn't have much time to contemplate it, because an instant later, his arm steadied, his face returned to a mask of indifference.

And that's when I knew- Kurt was going to die.

Finn's finger tightened on the trigger, but I was already in motion, no time to think, _no time_, and before the weapon fired, I was plowing into him, roaring. My head hit him in the side, my horns barely missing him, and his body went flying, slamming into the side of a Hummer before sliding down the metal and onto the ground.

But I wasn't done.

He had tried to kill Kurt. My _friend_.

I charged Finn's downed body, ready to stomp him out, but he carefully rolled away from my hooves as I neared, scrambling to his feet and I just barely missed him. And that pissed me off. I slowed my advance before I fully struck the Hummer and quickly tossed my head to the left to catch Finn, who had just made it to his feet. My horns made a loud scraping sound as they scratched against the shiny black metal of the Hummer, digging deep grooves in it, and the side of my horn smashed Finn's ribs. I heard the sound of his ribs splintering, and he cried out in agony as he curled in on my horn, but the power of my swing threw him to the pavement. He landed on his elbow, shattering it instantly, and slid across the road, the rough asphalt shredding the skin of his arm and rubbing his chest raw through his clothes. I heard his head crack against the pavement, and his body was still.

I moved towards him.

_[Santana, _no_!]_ Sam yelled, and I snapped out of my haze of anger, mildly offended. Did he think I was going to trample him or something?

I snorted and inspected my surroundings again. There were three Controllers left, but they must've finally realized that they were outmatched- they turned and fled the second I set my eyes on them.

The sound of Kurt sobbing brought me back to what had just happened, and the situational change coupled with the amount of damage my bull form had taken prompted me to return to my own human body in preparation for our impending departure. Once completely changed, I took a few hesitant steps towards Finn's broken body. He was still breathing- shakily- but blood had begun to seep from the wound on his head that I guess he had acquired when he hit the pavement, and I knew he had to be suffering internal damage from my horns. I winced at the thought.

As I got closer, slight movement caught my eye, and a wave of nausea nearly overwhelmed me as I realized it was Finn's Yeerk, hastily wriggling away from Finn's head. I guess it knew Finn would certainly die, and if a host dies while the Yeerk is inside it, the Yeerk dies, too. It probably thought its chances were better away from the body, though I don't know where it thought it was going to go. Especially with us surrounding it.

Sam lumbered over to us, breathing hard. He looked like a wreck. He had burn holes in several places, all oozing blood. Parts of his hair had been singed off.

_[Is that..?]_ he asked, hesitantly, staring at the Yeerk as it squirmed across the pavement.

I didn't answer.

Kurt appeared suddenly in our field of vision and I only caught a brief flash of the rock in his hand before he was sinking to his knees beside the Yeerk with hot, frustrated tears running down his cheeks.

Without warning he cried out, angrily, and raised the rock high. Then, coldly, with no remorse in his expression, he violently and repeatedly smashed the rock into the Yeerk's body until it was nothing but a black smear on the rock and the pavement. I looked away, sucking my lips into my mouth, and briefly wondered if Brittany was safe, if she had managed to lose her Yeerk pursuers. I didn't have much of a chance to ponder it, though, because seconds later, Kurt was in my face.

"Are you fucking _crazy_?" He demanded furiously, brandishing the rock, which still had traces of Yeerk on it. "You almost fucking _killed_ _him_!"

I felt my anger level rising at his accusation. "He was going to kill _you_!" I countered.

Kurt shook his head. "He wouldn't have done it!"

"Oh, really?" I asked bitterly. "You obviously weren't standing where _I_ was, because he was definitely ready to pull that trigger!" Kurt didn't say anything, but the conviction in his tone made me second-guess myself. _Would_ Finn have done it? Had I acted too rashly? Did I only imagine his finger tightening on the trigger?

Did it even _matter_? It was over and done with. Finn was in a war, just like the rest of us. Yeah, it sucked that he was not only a tool, but an innocent tool of the Yeerks, too, but I couldn't let that stop me from doing what I thought was right. I couldn't take the chance that he wouldn't have killed Kurt without hesitation. And I couldn't second-guess myself on every single decision. It would drive me crazy.

I looked over at Finn, whose head was now cradled in Kurt's hands as Kurt tried to stop the steady stream of blood coming from Finn's head. One side of his face was scraped raw, and his chin and lips were covered in blood. He had either bit his lip, his tongue, or broken his nose. Maybe all three. I swallowed weakly.

"Shit, shit, shit," Kurt sobbed, pressing his already-bloodied hands uselessly to the deep laceration in Finn's head. I cringed. The poor kid obviously didn't know the first thing about first aid.

Sam moved to Kurt's side, placing a steady hand on his shoulder. "We don't have much time before they come back with reinforcements," he said quietly.

Kurt looked livid, wild. "We _can't_ just fucking _leave_ him!"

"We can't _take_ him, either- he'll die," Sam said regretfully. He hesitated, his expression showing that he didn't like what he was about to say. "The Yeerks are better equipped to fix him."

Kurt gave him a look that was a cross between appalled and irate. "I'm _not_ leaving him," he said with finality. Then, he choked, "I- I _won't_ lose h-him, too."

Sam looked at me helplessly for support. I just stared back, blankly. Not processing what had happened. Not processing that Finn might die as a result of my actions. Not thinking about what the fuck we were going to do _now._

Finn's eyes fluttered weakly and he groaned, and all of our attention snapped to him instantly. "Don't," Finn rasped dimly. His breathing gurgled. I guess I had done more damage to him than I thought- it sounded like his lung was punctured. No telling what other internal bleeding was going on inside him.

He was definitely going to die.

"Don't what?" Kurt asked desperately.

Finn sat up slowly, his face contorted with pain. Kurt tried to restrain him but Finn pushed him off angrily, though feebly. Then, with strength I was surprised he even had, he started to climb to his feet, shakily, gasping for breath, his mangled right arm hanging uselessly at his side.

"What're you doing?" Kurt asked, terrified as Finn, who couldn't make it completely to his feet, half crawled, half dragged himself to his fallen Dracon beam.

I tensed immediately. What the fuck?

I puzzled for a moment, and then I heard Brittany's voice in my mind.

"_Can you truly think of _no one_ who would _want_ what the Yeerks offer them: power, acceptance, wealth?"_

And then, suddenly, it clicked.

"He's a voluntary Controller," I whispered.

Realization dawned on Sam's face and Kurt looked tormented.

"No," Kurt breathed, shaking his head in disbelief. But as Finn pathetically snatched up the Dracon beam, it all began to make sense. I stepped towards Finn.

"No!" Kurt said again, firmer, as I moved forward with determination. Finn turned and feebly raised his shaking good arm up to point the Dracon beam at me. I kicked it out of his hand and it clattered across the pavement, bouncing before it skittered to a stop several feet away.

Finn coughed, and more blood dripped down his chin. He gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowed with hate and anguish. I felt sick with revulsion as I stared down at him, our eyes locking. Finally, too weak with pain to hold himself up, he collapsed forward, catching himself on his good hand and curling into himself as he panted, struggling for breath.

"Do it," he wheezed.

I swallowed hard.

"Don't!" Kurt snarled.

"Kurt!" Sam roared.

I turned to Kurt, who was pointing Finn's Dracon beam at Finn, unsteadily. My eyebrows rose in surprise. Did he think he was going to _shoot_ him? The thought made me angry. He didn't have the guts, and we both knew that.

After a tense moment, Kurt's shoulders slumped, and he let the weapon fall to the ground. "I- I can't," Kurt sobbed. "I can't do it. I _won't_."

"You may not have to," Sam said gently as Finn finally fell forward onto his stomach completely, hitting the pavement with a dull thump of finality. "He's not going to last much longer."

Kurt glared at me and my heart froze for a second with guilt. "Either way, I'm _not_ leaving him here-"

The squealing of tires announced that the Yeerks' reinforcements had just arrived.

"Aaaand _we've_ just run out of time," I muttered.

"Kurt, let's go," Sam said forcefully. "That's an order."

"But _Finn_-" Kurt choked.

"Doesn't _want_ to come with us," I hissed as I began the change to bird.

"Let him go, Kurt. Your father needs you now, more than he does."

Reluctantly, Kurt squeezed his eyes closed, a cascade of previously unspilled tears flowing down his cheeks as a result, and began his change to raptor, crying silently.

Satisfied that Kurt was leaving with us, Sam began his transformation to pigeon just as the Hummers screeched to a halt. Controllers poured out of the vehicles, and we barely avoided being seared by Dracon fire as we hobbled carefully behind a vehicle to complete the last of our transformations before flapping hard to get in the air. The shooting continued to follow us until we were out of range, but as I took off, I caught one last glimpse of Finn.

He was on his stomach, slightly hunched over, his broken arm twisted unnaturally away from his body, and his head turned to the side. His cheek was pressed to the pavement, and his mouth was hanging open slightly, blood smeared over his mouth and chin.

His dull, lifeless eyes seemed to be looking at me, and I felt a cold chill overtake my body.

I couldn't fly away fast enough.

* * *

We flew around in silence, aimlessly, for a while, searching for any trace of the others. For any trace of Kurt's SUV or Sam's parents' car. We didn't find any, which was good, because if we didn't find any, it meant the Yeerks wouldn't, either. But. It also meant we weren't any closer to catching up with them. Our problem was solved, however, when Mercedes found us.

_[Guys, _please_ tell me that's you and not some _other_ out-of-place group of predator birds,] _she said as she approached us silently, in owl form.

_[I'm not a predator,]_ Sam grumbled.

_[It's us,]_ I assured her.

_[Praise,]_ she breathed. _[I've been looking for you guys for a while.]_

Kurt seemed to shake out of his silent funk. _[Did you get everyone to safety?]_

Mercedes hesitated. _[Yeah, we're at the parking garage across the street from the old strip mall.]_

_[The one that closed down?]_ Kurt clarified dully.

_[Yeah, follow me. But Kurt-]_ and then she cut off. It was silent on Kurt's end, so I knew they were still talking. But privately. I wondered what they were talking about, a little peeved that they didn't include me and Sam, but instead I felt myself growing increasingly anxious. Mercedes had said Brittany was okay, but I wanted to _see_ her. I had to know for myself that she was all right. The desire to hold her was nearly overwhelming me, and I found myself flying as hard as I could to reach the old parking garage as quickly as possible.

We circled down into the garage, stopping at the second level, and began the change back to human near Kurt's SUV.

It was the only car there. My stomach twisted.

Something was seriously wrong.

* * *

Once human, Sam looked around. "Where's my family?" I heard him ask as he walked towards the SUV to look inside. Kurt lingered back, sharing a worried look with Mercedes, but at the sight of Burt he broke down and fell into his father's arms. I didn't have time to observe anything else before I found myself immediately wrapped up in Brittany's strong embrace; I eagerly returned her hug, inhaling the scent of her and enjoying her nearness. She held me tightly, burying her face in my neck and I tangled a hand in her hair, stroking her back soothingly with the other.

"I was so worried," she breathed into my neck, squeezing me to her and eliminating every space between our bodies.

"Me, too," I whispered. It took me a moment to realize I was shaking. She lifted her head and her eyes locked with mine. I felt all my emotion, my guilt, my anger, my sorrow, flooding back at the sight of her open expression. She gave me a questioning look as my expression changed but I averted my eyes, feeling my throat constricting. I didn't want to talk about it. I wasn't sure I could do so without breaking down.

She seemed to sense my unease and instead offered me a small smile, sliding her hand down my arm to tangle our fingers together, and cupping my cheek with her other. She stroked her thumb over my skin and I leaned into her touch, savoring it. I swallowed. There was something wrong. "Where's Sam's parents?" I asked softly, fearing the answer.

Brittany shifted her gaze and bit her lip, and I felt dread filling me at her nonverbal response.

"NO!" Sam shouted suddenly from the other side of the SUV. He walked away from it, his strides purposeful, shaking his head quickly as Mercedes followed him at a small distance, trying to take his arm. "That's _impossible_! I _watched_ them! In the beginning, I _watched them_-"

"And you _don't_ think it's possible they could have become infested _after_ that?" Kurt asked gently, by Burt's side.

"Oh, God, how could this have happened?" Sam agonized. "I should have _known_- I lived with them, I _should have known_!"

I closed my eyes, felt my heart pounding, my breath racing as Sam fell apart. Brittany pulled me into her, pressing my face into her neck as Sam continued to berate himself until his words became unintelligible and were reduced to choked sobs. I stayed frozen, pressed into Brittany. I had no desire to move. No desire to see Sam lose his shit.

I heard a thump and imagined that it was Sam falling to his knees. His broken cries echoed in the empty garage. We all let him cry for a few moments as we stood silently. My thoughts raced in confusion, a million questions springing forward. Sam's parents were Controllers? _Both_ of them, or just one? I found myself in complete disbelief, and agreed with Sam- how could we have not _known_ that? I thought back to when Brittany had been Sam for three days; were they infested before then, or after? Had Brittany spent three days in a house full of Controllers? The idea that, right under all of our noses, Sam's parents had been infested without our knowledge left a bitter taste in my mouth and an uneasy feeling in my stomach. We were supposed to be the good guys- we were supposed to save people.

Yet we had failed to save Sam's family, to save Puck. To save Finn. We couldn't even save the people we cared about most.

I shook my head bitterly. What was the point of _any_ of it?

Brittany held me tighter, as if she knew what I was thinking. Maybe she _did_- maybe she had had the same thoughts.

"Sam-" Mercedes started gently.

"I trusted you," Sam said brokenly, sobbing. "I _trusted_ you to get them out-"

Mercedes looked distraught.

"Your father was one of _them_, son," Burt said, sounding pained himself. "And _nothing_ Mercedes could've done would've changed that."

Sam continued to cry for long moments before I couldn't really take anymore. I didn't really know how to deal with the heaviness of the situation and still keep myself together. I pulled away from Brittany and moved closer to him. "Sam, get your shit together. Your family is still _alive_. We'll get them _back_-"

"Yeah, _alive_," Kurt sneered. "Unlike _Finn_, thanks to _you_."

I felt like I'd been slapped. Everyone's eyes turned to me. Mercedes': curious and doubtful. Brittany's: sad, as if she felt my pain. Burt's… his eyes hurt the worst. He wasn't angry, or mad. He was just accepting. Pitying. "I did what I had to do," I said icily. "We don't _know_ if he's dead or not."

"Yet," Kurt sneered. "But let's be honest, there's a really high probability that he _is_. But what do _you_ care? You haven't had to give up _anything_ for this war, not like the rest of us," he gestured to Sam, who was still crying into his hands on the cold cement floor of the parking garage. "All you've done is tell the rest of us what we should or shouldn't do, but you haven't lost anything. _Fuck you_, Santana."

"I've lost Puck," I shot back. "Do you think it was easy for me to see him taken? He's still my-" I stopped. I took a deep, calming breath. I was getting too worked up over this. "I saved your _life_," I snapped. I just couldn't believe we were having this conversation, in front of everyone. But if he wanted to have it, then we were going to fucking _have_ it. "And I did you a _favor_! You'd have had to fight Finn, maybe _kill_ him, eventually. Were you prepared to do that yourself? When you couldn't even finish off Sebastian? When you couldn't even pull the trigger, even though _he_ was _more_ than able to-"

"He _wouldn't have done it_," Kurt snarled with blind conviction.

"_Bullshit_," I spat. "You can't say with absolute certainty that he wouldn't have pulled that trigger."

"And so what if he _had_?" Kurt demanded.

"Then you'd be fucking _dead_. You didn't do a goddamned _thing_ to stop him, because you're _afraid_. You're a fucking _coward_. You need _me_ to do your dirty work, to kill your family members and your enemies because you're too fucking _righteous_ to do it _yourself_!"

Kurt didn't say anything, only clenched his fists. He looked like he might start crying again, but he knew, _he knew_ I was right. And somehow, being right is what hurt most of all. I didn't _want_ to be the one that people expected to clean up their messes. I didn't want to be the fucking grim reaper or whatever. I was just a girl- a girl who wanted to do the right thing.

And sometimes that _right thing_ wasn't always clear-cut.

"We don't know if he's dead or not," Sam interrupted our intense silence quietly, surprising all of us.

"He might as well be," Kurt said at last, anguished. "He's fucking _mangled_, Sam!"

"The Yeerks have the technology to save him," Sam said, rising to his feet with a renewed purpose.

"But how do you know they will bother?" Mercedes asked. Kurt winced, but she smiled slightly. Almost as if she knew the answer, as if she was setting Sam up for a line they'd rehearsed before.

Sam smiled, too. He looked at Kurt. "Because he's important to you. And they _have_ you, and _me_, as long as they have our families. As long as they have Puck, and _all_ the people we care about." He looked meaningfully at Burt, and I suddenly realized that his wife, Carole, wasn't with us. Oh, shit.

"As long as they have _them_, they know they have _us_," Sam repeated. "And that's how I know that they'll keep them alive and safe."

"And as long as they have them, we will continue to fight," Kurt said with a determined nod, his eyes hard.

We all shared a silent agreement.

We couldn't just give up.

* * *

It took us a while to figure out where to go from the garage, but in the end, we were forced to go to the only ally we really had. It was risky, especially since we had to drive Kurt's easily recognizable SUV there. Burt drove our parents, while the rest of us flew cover. We just had to hope that we wouldn't get spotted by any Controllers.

At least- none that weren't already on our side.

"Ken," I greeted, giving him an exhausted nod. He looked absolutely baffled to see me and Sam standing before him that late in the night. Brittany stood slightly behind me, in her human form, her hand in mine. I _needed_ the physical connection. I was barely keeping myself together and her touch was the only thing grounding me. Ken had never seen her before, though, so he gave me a slightly suspicious look, and I briefly wondered if the guy ever slept or had a home, since he was always outside guarding that gate. But really when it came down to it, I didn't _actually_ give any fucks. I was just too tired.

Ken shifted his gaze between Sam, who stood quietly, his face a barely-contained mask of grief, and me, slumped over and ready to collapse, to Brittany, who stood silently with a serious expression that looked out of place on her normally cheerful face. I guess the severity of our situation and our somber moods were having an effect on her. It made my heart ache.

I sighed. "We have a problem. Would you kindly let Sugs know that-"

"_Ken? Send the fucking retards in!"_ Sugar's annoyed voice snapped over the small intercom at the gate.

I shrugged my shoulders at Ken's perplexed expression.

I guess Sugar already knew about our problems.

* * *

Once the three of us were inside, Sugar gave Burt access to drive the SUV past the force field and security. He parked the SUV in one of the gazillion garages located on the grounds, and everyone piled out wearily. Sugar, who was wearing an expression between absolute delight at the idea of having guests and total rage at the fact that we still didn't have the cube, led us all inside a building I hadn't ever been in before.

"I can't believe how dumb you all are," she said casually as we walked. I glared at the back of her head, wondering if she'd notice if I just reached up and smacked the _shit_ out of-

Sam caught my gaze and shook his head slightly. Right. We kind of needed Sugar. We didn't have anywhere safe to go.

Not that I really considered Sugar's mansion "safe." But at least we could trust her.

Somewhat.

Brittany squeezed my hand tighter as Sugar led us all down a grand carpeted staircase that looked like something out of an ancient castle, and once we reached the bottom, an ornate, dark door with huge metal handles stood at the center of the room.

"Uh, those aren't the Gates of Tartarus, are they?" I asked as we approached the huge, towering doors.

Sugar smiled slyly. "Of course not, unless you're planning on _dying_." She looked at me pointedly, and I gave her a withering look in return. She gestured for her attendant, Rory, to open the door, and I rolled my eyes as he scurried to quickly carry out her request. He tugged on the handle and the door swung open easily, and we all followed as Sugar led us inside and down a long hall.

I glared at Rory when I passed him. I was definitely not looking forward to that little leprechaun being around more. But he didn't follow us through the doors. That definitely pleased me.

At the end of the hall was a lift, and we all squeezed inside it before Sugar pressed a series of buttons. "I'm the only one with access to this area- no one else has ever been down here," she told us as if she were telling us the location of Ambrosia.

"What the hell _is_ all this?" Mercedes asked, her voice holding an ounce of annoyance and fear. Annoyance because, _God_, Sugar had _so much money_. Fear because we had _no_ _fucking_ _clue_ where we were going.

"You'll see," Sugar answered cryptically, wearing that smug smile again. With a slight jolt, the lift began to descend down into the floor. We sank and sank. It felt like we went down as far as the Yeerk Pool, but I know we hadn't.

When it finally stopped, we were greeted with another hallway, though it was narrower and darker. Sugar led us down the hallway, which opened into a big, dimly-lit room. It looked a lot like a lobby, complete with the richer-than-dirt's version of shoddy lobby furniture, which I'm pretty sure was still nicer than the furniture in my house.

Well, in the house that used to be mine.

Brittany's grip grew increasingly tighter the further we walked, and I began to get worried. She looked nervous, edgy, and I stroked my thumb over the back of her hand to try to calm her.

"Britt," I breathed, moving in closer to her as we walked. "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" She looked at me. Her eyes were wild and scared.

I stopped abruptly, forcing her to stop, also. "Jesus, Brittany," I said softly, cupping her face. She avoided my eyes, her blue ones darting frantically around the room. "What's wrong?"

"I-" She started, but she couldn't get her words out so I slid my hand to the back of her neck and pulled her head down to rest her forehead against mine, forcing her to focus.

"Britt," I prodded again, softly.

"Being enclosed like this, it- it makes me nervous, I- I don't like- I can't-"

I leaned forward and kissed her, and she paused for a moment before kissing me back, slowly. I pulled back a little and smiled lazily. "You're claustrophobic."

"I don't know what that means," she confessed breathlessly, before leaning forward to capture my lips. I kissed her for long moments, losing track of the fact that we were in an unfamiliar room, and _supposed_ to be following Sugar around this underground asylum or whatever the fuck it was. I was too busy enjoying Brittany up against me, Brittany _alive_, and I really gave zero fucks about anything else.

After a while, we parted regretfully, and I grinned at her. Her cheeks were flushed pink, but she seemed to have calmed down from her claustrophobia. Instead she was worked up in a completely different way, and I gave her a flirty look before I turned to continue walking down the hallway, laughing as she rushed to catch up with me, snatching my hand and entwining our fingers.

When we finally found the others, Sugar gave us a disapproving look. I just shrugged my shoulders and smirked at her.

"Anyways, as I was saying, I'm completely self-sufficient from the rest of the Yeerks. I have my own miniature, portable Kandrona and this," she gestured with her hand behind her, and I noticed for the first time that there was a small Yeerk Pool, about the size of a normal underground pool, "is my own personal feeding area. It's _only_ for me. There's another one on the grounds, of course, for Rory and the others to use. But this one is all mine."

"So who restrains Sugar while you're swimming around in here?" Burt asked. I stood, a little shocked that he had the balls to ask that particular question. I suddenly had a _lot_ more respect for the man.

Sugar looked at him. "No one. Sugar and I have a partnership. While I'm feeding, she can go do whatever she likes, and when I'm done, she comes back to collect me," she said coolly, with a shrug.

Burt and the other parents looked absolutely shocked.

Sugar seemed not to notice. She turned and waved us forward with her hand. "Come on, we'll head over to the barracks next."

"Barracks?" Mercedes repeated, her voice higher-pitched than normal. "Just how big _is_ this place?"

Sugar didn't stop. "It's about as big underground as it is above ground."

"So why is all this here?" Kurt asked.

"Al Motta is preparing for the zombie apocalypse- I told you before, he's kind of a moron," Sugar explained.

"Kind of?" I muttered.

She continued on, uninterrupted. "It worked out in my favor, though, because once I discovered the project, it was extremely easy to have the pool added on and to gain complete independence from those- those _parasites_. Don't worry, though. Al doesn't _actually_ have access to any of this. A security measure he, believe it or not, put in place himself. You know, in case he ever gets taken by the _zombies_ or whatever." She laughed as if it was some big joke. Maybe it _was_.

I stared at her disbelievingly.

We were going to _live_ with these lunatics?

Brittany squeezed my hand nervously again, and I smiled encouragingly at her. She shifted closer as we walked and I dropped her hand in favor of wrapping my arm around her waist and tugging her into me. She seemed genuinely surprised at first, but put her arm around me in return after a moment of hesitation.

Sugar led us through a huge living area, furnished with a TV and several couches. It was sparse but at least it was something. She pointed through another doorway to a kitchen that looked more like a Home Ec classroom. We didn't stop to look inside, just kept walking down the hall. Finally she turned down another narrow hallway and gestured to the many doors lining it.

"These are the living quarters. They're rather small, but you'll find more than enough for all of you."

"It beats living in a cave," I said with a shrug.

"Or the shack out in the woods," Sam chimed in with the faintest hint of a smile. It flickered briefly in his eyes, but then they were back to their tired, dull look. My heart ached to see him so broken, but instead I turned my attention to one of the nearby doors. I turned the handle and opened it, peeking inside.

The room was pretty plain. It had a double bed shoved into the corner. A nondescript nightstand with a drawer next to it. A three-drawer dresser at the foot of it. A lamp. And that was it, that was the room.

"Cozy," I commented.

Sugar shrugged. "Eh." She looked at each of us. "My room is closer to the pool, so don't worry about bothering me by being too loud or whatever."

Right. Because I was _so_ worried about that.

"If you make a list of the things you need, I'll send someone out shopping tomorrow," she offered with a lazy wave of her hand. "Remember, you can't return to your houses for _anything_, they're under surveillance now. But of course, money is no object here, and it's in my best interest to take care of you until you find the cube." She gave us a predatory gaze and I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, Truvia," I said. "But if you don't mind, it's like one in the morning and-"

"You're tired, right, I get it," she said with another dramatic wave of her hand. "Well, get to bed then. Bathroom's down the hall. Snacks are in the kitchen." She stood there expectantly, beaming at us.

"Well, thanks, uh, Sugar," Sam said gratefully. "Really, for everything. I don't know what we'd do without you."

"Oh, probably be dead, but don't worry about it. I just expect you to make good on your _promise_," she said pointedly.

We all waited awkwardly. I rolled my eyes again.

"Okay, well, good night," I huffed, grabbing Brittany's hand and tugging her to the room at the very end of the hall, as far away from the other rooms as possible.

Once inside I shut the door and sat down on the bed. I rubbed my temples, trying to ward off the headache I felt approaching. I was exhausted: physically, mentally, and emotionally. And I still hadn't even told my _own_ parents about the Yeerks. _Ugh_. It was going to take some convincing, but somehow I had to try to get them to stay in Sweden. They'd be safest there. But _no_ _way_ was I doing it now. I needed rest. I needed-

I looked over at Brittany, who was in the middle of transforming, and was almost fully Andalite. When she finished, she stood for a second, took a deep breath through the slits in her face where her nose should be, and began the change back to human.

"Britt," I protested as she completed the change, noticing that, during the change, she had also replaced the original clothes she had been wearing before with her usual nightclothes, which were actually _my_ nightclothes that she'd borrowed. I shook my head in amazement at her talent. How'd she _do_ that? "You don't have to- I mean, you can be yourself for a while, you've been transformed all day."

"I'm all right," she assured me, looking over her shoulder nervously at the door.

"Are you sure? I just feel bad, I mean-"

She cut me off with her lips pressing desperately into mine. My noise of surprise changed to one of arousal as she moved forward and straddled my lap, sliding her arms around my neck and pressing her body to me. I slid my hands onto her hips, slipping them under her shirt to touch the skin of her lower back and stomach. She kissed me and kissed me, and within moments I was panting in her mouth, completely worked up for her.

She pulled back and pressed her forehead against mine.

"I don't like this place," she confessed in a whisper.

I swallowed, trying to catch my breath. Trying to think of what to say to her.

"Please- can you distract me?" she breathed into my ear, kissing just beneath it and making me shake with desire. "Please," she begged in a whimper.

I bit my lip. Uh. I mean. Who could refuse that?

I turned us, pushing her onto her back, and kissed down her neck, biting it roughly. I'm sure it probably hurt her but I didn't pause too long to think about it as I sucked vigorously at the base of her neck. She cried out my name, one of her hands digging into my scalp, the other raking down my shoulder, and it spurred me on. I hissed in pain, but bit her skin, sucking hard, possessively wanting to mark her so everyone would _see_- so that punk _Rory_ would see. I pushed her tank top up, scratched my nails harshly down her stomach, ignoring her loud moan as I shoved my left hand quickly beneath her shorts, her underwear, to touch her. I gasped as my fingers slipped against her- she was already _so wet_. She leaned up and kissed me fiercely, gripping my hair in her fist. She locked her leg around my hip and pulled me down into her.

"Please," she begged again, pushing her hips up into my hand, so that my fingers barely dipped into her because of how wet she was.

I moaned at the sensation- at her eagerness- pressing harder, entering her just barely, teasing her.

I wondered fleetingly if, once I took her virginity, she'd still have it when she transformed again, if it would heal itself.

Then I wanted to smack myself because, _really_, why would I think about _that_ with Brittany tugging at me insistently, begging me to _take her_ in my ear?

"_Fuck_, Britt," I gasped.

"_Do it, Santana_," she growled, clutching my hair, yanking it sharply to bring my lips to hers. She bit my lip harshly and I gasped again. She kissed me hard and I tasted blood on my lip.

Blood.

_Finn_.

I pulled back abruptly, sitting up and turning away as Finn's face appeared in my head, the way it had looked when I flew away. I pressed my hands to the sides of my face, breathing hard, hating myself for thinking of the most _inappropriate_ thing possible at the most _inconvenient_ time. What the fuck was _wrong_ with me?

"Santana?" Brittany asked gently, concerned.

She touched my shoulder and I lost it.

"San," Brittany said, completely surprised as I started sobbing. She gathered me up in her arms and I clutched at her shirt, crying against her chest. I felt pathetic but I couldn't even stop the tears from falling, the sobs from wracking my body. She settled us so that she was lying back against the pillows and I was curled into her. I cried for a long time while she stroked her fingers through my hair and rubbed soothing circles on my back to calm me, whispering reassurances against the top of my head. And I eventually calmed.

After I cried myself out, I admittedly felt a little better. I buried my face into her neck and just inhaled her, trying to slow my trembling and my pounding heart.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Brittany murmured against my hair after a while of silence.

I swallowed. Did I?

I wasn't sure if I was _ready_ to talk about it. I knew she must've been wondering what happened, after Kurt's outburst in the parking garage. But she didn't pressure me, and she didn't bring it up. I sighed, nuzzling further into her neck, relishing her soft skin, her comforting warmth, her scent. She always knew how to handle me, what to say, how to reassure me. It was one of the many reasons why I loved her.

She remained silent, continued her consoling caresses through my hair, and I listened to her heartbeat for long moments before I took a deep breath.

"Finn," I started, my voice a lot rougher because of my crying. I cleared my throat and continued. "Finn was going to shoot Kurt. He had a Dracon beam." I paused, reliving the moment in my mind. I took another deep, steadying breath and Brittany pressed a reassuring kiss to my hair. "I was in bull form, and I saw him aiming it at Kurt. He- he hesitated for a brief moment. I thought maybe it was the host- the _real_ Finn, fighting against his Yeerk."

Brittany hummed in acknowledgement. "They can do that, though it takes a lot of effort."

I nodded against her shoulder, absently playing with a lock of her silky blonde hair. "Well, _after_- he seemed to be done deliberating. I saw his finger tightening on the trigger, and- it all happened so _fast_." I squeezed my eyes shut. Brittany pressed another kiss to my head, tightening her arm around me. "I hurt him, Britt. _Badly_. He- he's probably _dead_."

"What happened after?" she asked softly.

"The Yeerk bailed, and Kurt smashed it with a rock," I whispered. The thought made me shiver. I had never seen Kurt so violent. "And then- Finn told us not to take him with us, and he went to get the Dracon beam. And I remembered what you said, that first time in the Yeerk Pool." I looked up at her, and her blue eyes looked at me, slightly confused, but unwavering in their gaze. Then I saw the realization flicker in them, and I bit my lip.

"Finn's voluntary," she said sadly.

I nodded. "The Yeerks arrived and we barely escaped, but I saw his face as I was flying away, and-" I squeezed my eyes shut again as I remembered it. A face hadn't haunted me so much since that flash of the girl in the closet from _The Ring_. "Maybe he _is_ alive, maybe the Yeerks managed to save him, but-"

"He's alive," Brittany said firmly. "He's too valuable a host for them _not_ to do everything in their power to save him. And trust me, they have the technology to do so."

My heart fluttered with hope and sank with disappointment at the same time. It was a weird feeling. I was happy that Kurt's step-brother was alive, for his sake. But Finn- a _voluntary_ _Controller_? The thought disgusted me. He deserved to die.

But those thoughts didn't erase my guilt. "Britt, what if he _wasn't_ going to shoot Kurt after all? What if I acted too rash?"

"You didn't," Brittany reassured me, her tone firm. "What if you'd hesitated, and he'd shot Kurt? How would you have felt, then?"

I paused. I hadn't really thought about that. "I didn't, though," I said softly.

Brittany shrugged. "True. But- why does it matter, Santana? Finn's alive and well. Any damage you did to him is probably repaired, and he's got a new Yeerk in his brain now. You made the best decision you could given the circumstances."

"It matters to Kurt," I muttered. I remembered what Kurt said to me. "He thinks I haven't given up anything, that I don't care what happens to them- that I haven't made sacrifices," I complained, getting angrier by the second. I felt frustrated, hurt, and disappointed, because- _seriously_- how could he think that? "Like I didn't fucking risk my ass so many times to go on missions with them?" I continued. "Like I didn't pretty much give up _all_ my free time, just like the rest of them? Did they ever stop to think that maybe I haven't lost anything because I didn't _have anything to lose_?"

"Santana," Brittany said, heart-broken, reaching up to wipe my tears away gently with her thumb. I hadn't even realized I'd started crying again.

"My parents were never home, anyways," I whispered brokenly. Ugh, I felt so _emo_. "And now I have to try and convince them to stay in Sweden for who knows how long, so they'll be safe. I won't ever see them, not until this war is over- whenever _that_ will happen. It might _never_ happen. I've given up my life just like the rest of them- I can't go to Cheerios practice anymore or go to parties or anything."

"I'm so sorry," Brittany breathed.

"No, Britt- I- I don't care about any of that, anyways. Because, honestly?" I tried to give her a watery smile, and she gave me a small one in return. "Brittany, I _didn't_ really lose anything in this war. Cheerios, parties- none of that ever _meant_ anything. I- I _gained_. I have you, and I would never trade that for anything I've lost." Man, was I in my feelings, or what? I was seriously going to need some kind of award for talking about so many feelings in one conversation.

Brittany smiled sadly at me, leaning forward to give me a sweet kiss. I returned the kiss, deepening it, sliding my tongue into her mouth sensually. "I love you," I told her before I kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around me and just held me.

After a while I pulled back with a slight giggle.

"What?" she asked playfully, leaning up to nudge my cheek with her nose.

"I'm sorry," I said. "It's just that- _I_ was supposed to be the one distracting _you_."

She grinned at me, catlike, her blue eyes shining. "You _did_ distract me." She squeezed me and I laughed as she flipped us, so that she was pinning me to the bed. "I said 'distract me,' San- not, 'sex me.'"

I buried my face in the pillow, embarrassed.

She laughed, snuggling into me. And despite the completely awkward position we were in, it was actually extremely comfortable. Our bodies just _fit_.

I yawned. She kissed my jaw, softly. "Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

With her arms around me, I gave in to my exhaustion, and let sleep take me.

* * *

**Aww. :)**

**Sorry I cock-blocked Brittany, but there will be some more chances for them to get sexy in the next couple of chapters, so hang in there.**

**Also, next chapter: the moment you've all been waiting for! (or not, I mean, maybe some of you guys don't give two fucks about Britt, idk)**

**A random question- how do you guys feel about art? Because I am sort of artistically inclined, and I was thinking of doing some drawings of some scenes. But then I wasn't even sure what scenes to do, so if you have some suggestions, feel free to hit me up. I have a tumblr but I use it exclusively to feed my Brittana obsession so it's safer to just steer clear of it and send me a PM or a review. ._.**

**LOL.**

**See you next Monday (if you haven't floated away, of course!)**

**And Happy Halloween! :D**


	16. Euthanasia

**HI EVERYONE!**

**I'm so, SO sorry about the delay! Really, I am! I went out of town this weekend until yesterday. I meant to write the chapter before I left but let me just tell you: I've heard some Bram spoilers. Perhaps you've heard some, too. And all these rough Bram waters are really making me SEASICK. Lol. They were bringing me down and I know they were probably bringing you down, too. (hopefully not anymore with the latest, but. ._.)**

**But if they are- NEVER FEAR. I truly believe Ryan Murphy has something wonderful in store for our girls. Remember when IKAG happened, and we were all pissed? Well, then we got Heart. Contrary to what most of the fandom believes, Ryan Murphy doesn't hate Brittana. If he did, they wouldn't exist at all. He cares about his characters, he just wants their journey to be meaningful. So hang in there. Great things are in store. It's gonna suck for our girls for a while, but it will just make their reunion that much sweeter in the end. KEEP CALM AND SHIP BRITTANA! :D **

**Anyways. Here's the latest chapter. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, etc. you guys are da bomb!**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

"Nngguhhhh…. Britt," I groaned. She'd been fidgeting next to me for the past ten minutes. I'd tried to ignore it in favor of sleeping in, because I was so warm and comfortable- but her nervous writhing was pretty hard to ignore.

"I'm sorry," she said pathetically, and my heart almost broke at how pitiful she sounded.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. She was hugging herself, curled into a ball. Her face held a pained expression. My expression softened the instant my eyes met hers. I grabbed her arms and unwrapped them from around her torso, placing them around me instead. "Why are you hugging yourself, and not me?" I asked as I slid closer to her, erasing the space between our bodies.

She swallowed, her eyes darting, panicked, between mine. "I didn't want to wake you."

I smiled teasingly. "You did anyway."

Her face fell. "I'm sorry," she apologized again.

"Britt," I reached to cup her face, tilting her chin up to look at me. "It's okay. It's like, the middle of the day, I needed to get up." I leaned in to rest my forehead against hers. "Besides…" I kissed her softly, lowering my voice, like a secret. "You're obviously having a difficult time adjusting to this, and I'd rather you let me _help_ you." I moved to kiss her again, then trailed my lips from her mouth to her jaw and across to her ear.

She shivered against me, tightening her arms around me. "It's just- we're so _enclosed_-"

"Mmhm," I mumbled as I kissed down her neck, darting my tongue out briefly to taste her skin. Her breath hitched.

"There's no _escape_-"

"Nope, none," I purred, sucking her neck lightly. She squirmed. I definitely wasn't talking about our apocalyptic shelter. She breathed my name shakily as I slid my hand under her shirt, trailing my fingertips lightly over her stomach. I moved to kiss her there, letting my lips brush across her soft, firm skin. Her muscles tensed- _ugh,_ those _abs-_ as I planted more kisses across her lower stomach, and she moaned, her hands falling into my hair to grip it loosely.

I seriously considered leaving her a nice mark on the V of her hips, but her stomach made a loud rumbling noise, snapping me out of my sexy thoughts. I glanced up at her face, and she looked just as shocked as I was at the sound.

_"Someone's_ hungry," I grinned. Her face flushed in embarrassment and I laughed. "Britt, why are you blushing? You can't help that you're hungry."

"I- I don't know," she mumbled. She looked so adorable, I just wanted to melt. Like, how the fuck was she so cute in the morning? Scratch that, _all_ the time? It was just so unfair.

I crawled back up her body to kiss her senseless. "God, you're cute," I told her when I pulled back.

She blinked, panting. "Are you talking to God, or-"

"_You_, Britt," I laughed, smiling at her, totally lovesick. I didn't even care. "Always you."

She smiled shyly, her cheeks still pink and freckled and _beautiful_.

I squeezed her briefly. "Let's go find you something to eat."

"There's not even a _carpet_ in this room."

"Wanky."

* * *

I trudged down the silent hall, never letting go of Brittany's hand, and contemplated our situation.

It still hadn't really sunk in yet that this was our new life, _my_ new life. It hadn't sunk in that I didn't have to do my math homework for class the next day. That I didn't even have to _go_ to school the next day- maybe never again. That I didn't have Cheerios practice. A cheerleading routine to learn.

It hadn't sunk in that Sam didn't have to go to church. Mercedes, either. They were both in the kitchen when Brittany and I arrived. They were quiet, but we greeted each other. I looked through the pantry and found some cereal, then fixed a bowl for myself and Brittany. It all happened as if it was happening to someone else. I felt like I was watching it from somewhere else, like I was not actually there. It was so weird.

I wasn't sure if I'd ever get used to what had happened, and I got lost in my thoughts for a minute before I felt Brittany squeeze my hand. I looked at her for a long, silent time. I traced my eyes over her features, memorizing every freckle, getting lost in the blue of her eyes. I don't know if Sam and Mercedes noticed our quiet moment, nor did I really care- they didn't say anything as I stood and stared and contemplated and decided.

I still had Brittany. And I could be okay with anything- even living in an underground shelter sharing a bathroom with Jimmy Fallon's butch daughter- as long as she was by my side.

* * *

After breakfast (during which Brittany commented on how much she enjoyed the marshmallow part of her Lucky Charms) we tried to occupy our time with exploring the activities available to us. There really wasn't much to do. It was totally boring hanging around in the bedroom- which was more like a jail cell- all day. I mean, the only thing in there was the bed, and okay, I admit my mind immediately jumped to fucking Brittany into oblivion when I thought about it.

But seriously, there _had_ to be other stuff to do besides that.

After some minor searching, I managed to track down some paper and a pen and began making a list of the shit I wanted Sugar to get for me, per her request. I spent a good solid thirty minutes on it, completely uncaring that there were some seriously high ticket items- like a new laptop- on the list. I mean, come on- the bitch was more loaded than a baked potato from a greasy restaurant specializing in loaded baked potatoes. What did I care if she spent a fraction of that money on stuff that I'd lost? I needed a laptop to contact my parents, anyways. And Brittany would have Wikipedia again to distract her. _Total_ _necessity_.

We spent some time flicking through the channels on the satellite TV that Sugar had in the common area, but can you believe that even with 2,859 channels, there was still absolutely nothing on? It was fucking ridiculous. I gave up trying to find something after an hour.

And promptly added some movie titles to my growing list.

At Twilight (no, that _wasn't_ a movie on my list,) Brittany began to get extremely antsy, so I tracked Sugar down. First, to give her my very specific list of demands. And second, because I needed to know how to get the fuck out of her underground horror pit- but more importantly, how to get back _in_.

"Listen, Sugs," I said once I found her. "Britts and I? We're leaving-"

"The _fuck_ you are," she said calmly from her recliner, thumbing through the latest issue of _Palm Beach Illustrated_. I rolled my eyes in disgust.

"Can you just hear me the fuck out before you go all Hotel California on me?" I snapped. She huffed, but stayed silent, taking a long sip of the beverage that had been resting on the small table next to her. It was orange and had a bendy straw and a little umbrella. And I was pretty sure it was probably alcoholic. I guess when you're rich, being 15 doesn't matter. I shook my head and focused back on Sugar, who was still buried in _PBI_. "_Thank_ you. Look- my girl, Brittany, has claustrophobia."

"Of course she does, she's an Andalite," Sugar said casually with a shrug, not looking up from her magazine.

"What does that have to do with it?" I demanded.

Sugar set her magazine down in her lap and looked up at me, rolling her eyes. "You know, for someone who's pretty much _dating_ an Andalite, you sure know next to nothing about them."

"Nice observation, Harriet the Spy. Too bad I didn't ask for it." I glared.

She shrugged again and picked up her magazine.

"Anyways, like I was saying- I think it would do her some good to get out for a bit-"

"No."

"-can you shut the fuck up for one second; and also, _besides_ getting some air, we need to collect a few of her things from the woods. I think having them will help make her stay here a little more bearable," I said sharply, daring Sugar to cross me. I was going to get my way- Brittany's comfort was of the utmost importance to me, and no Baby Warbucks was going to stop it from happening.

Sugar seemed to take a second to consider it. Then she said, "Nope."

I took a deep breath and struggled to hold on to my increasing rage. I knew how to deal with this bitch. I smiled. "While that's extremely compassionate of you, Splenda- and seeing as how I kind of figured you might respond unfavorably- I also would like to add that, while we're out in the woods, we _might_ take a peek around for the cube. You know- the _blue one_?" I mentioned casually.

Sugar's interest piqued immediately at the mention of the cube. I smirked. Finally something super fucking relevant to her interests.

"We haven't really scanned the woods for the cube yet, since we've kind of been snowballing from the whole Yeerk Pool and oatmeal ordeal, but-"

"You have until the morning to return," Sugar said. "Take the lift up. Don't get your ass captured. Unlike you, _I_ don't have any extremely wealthy allies with a convenient zombie shelter to run to."

I rolled my eyes. "Right."

* * *

Sugar showed Brittany a slip of paper before we left that had a complicated string of alphanumeric code that made up the password to use the lift. It was at least 10 characters long, but fuck if I'd ever remember it. I had a lot more important things to worry about, like the way Brittany's ass looked in the shorts she was wearing, because- _damn_.

We waited until it was mostly dark outside, then transformed to bird and flew out into the night, heading for the woods. It was a decently lengthy flight, but the instant relief and release of tension that Brittany exuded the minute we were out of what I jokingly called the _Batcave_ was more than worth it to me. I was enjoying the cool, crisp, autumn air. It was warm, stuffy and stagnant in the _Batcave_, and I could see how the dead air and the overall atmosphere down there really bothered Brittany. But once we were out in the night sky, flying under the stars and chatting light-heartedly about random things we spied down below, she seemed to be returning to herself a little.

We had decided to search for the cube near the familiar, old shack in the woods before we flew out to Brittany's scoop to collect her things. It made sense, somewhat. Sebastian had basically lived in that shack, so we couldn't rule out the possibility that he was either dumb enough to hide the cube there, or thought he was clever in thinking _we_ would never think he was dumb enough to hide the cube there, which still made him dumb. Either way it left pretty good odds that the cube could be somewhere near the shack.

It was as good a place as any to start, and at least it was something.

However, once we reached the shack, we were more than a little surprised to find it actually _occupied_.

I walked right into the shack and stopped in my tracks when I spied a ginger-haired lady crouching down by a crate and rifling through a bunch of tiny papers. She was wearing a tattered yellow dress with a sky blue cardigan around her shoulders. She looked alarmed at our arrival, and she had every right to be. In all the times we'd used the shack, we'd never found the place occupied before. I mean, we knew someone lived there; the place was always immaculately clean and tidy, and showed evidence that it had housed some vagrant or squatter or something. We just had never seen the specific person. We had even begun to doubt the person had even existed.

Well, not anymore.

I swallowed nervously as the lady stared at me, and spared a quick glance to Brittany, who had transformed to human before entering the shack. We didn't know who this lady was, but if she was living in the woods, it was highly doubtful that she was a Controller. Most normal people don't react too well to seeing an alien deer, though, regardless, so I was thankful Brittany took the initiative to change. Smart.

I snapped my attention back to the resident of the shack and smiled weakly at the lady. "Uh. Hi, there, Miss-?" I ventured, but stopped talking when she stood up abruptly from her crate, turning to me.

She shuffled closer. She handed me what looked like a pamphlet. I accepted it warily and stared down at it.

"_So You've Been Probed By Aliens_," I read aloud. I paused and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Aliens? Did she mean _Yeerks_? Was she a Controller? Or was she just a permanent passenger on the Insane Train? I mean, there were plenty of people who were just straight-up crazy and believed they'd been abducted by aliens, right? That didn't mean they were _legit_. I looked back up at her. Her eyes were wide and shining in anticipation. And also kind of crazy-looking. "Uh- that's nice," I said slowly, completely unsure of what else to say. I glanced at Brittany again. She shrugged.

The lady blinked at me, unmoving. "I have a little trouble with messes."

Right. Okay, so she was definitely crazy. "Um- it's not messy," I said helpfully, looking around at the immaculately clean shack. Despite the fact that she had barely spoken, what she _had_ said explained a lot.

"I have a little trouble with messes," she repeated in the same dead, monotonous tone.

I blinked back at her, feeling myself becoming exasperated. Why the fuck did _I_ always meet the crazies? This was getting ridiculous. First Sandy Creeper, and now this bitch. I nodded. Time to change the subject. "I don't suppose you've seen a small, blue box around?" I mentioned hopefully. Maybe she knew where it was. Maybe she wasn't _completely_ crazy.

"I have a little trouble with messes."

Nope. She was completely crazy. "It's about…" I igored her answer, since she ignored mine, and made a measurement with my hands, holding them about four inches apart. "I dunno, _this_ big? And it's blue?" Brittany, who had moved to stand next to me in the doorway, nodded.

"I have a little trouble with messes."

Silence. I waited for a moment.

"All right. Do you mind if we just, um. Look around?"

"I have a little trouble with messes."

"Oh, we won't make a mess," Brittany reassured cheerily as she moved inside, walking straight over to the cot shoved into the corner. Well, at least _she_ didn't mind barging into this lady's home.

I nodded slowly, agreeing with Brittany's previous statement. "Thanks, uh, Miss-" I looked at her face, hoping she would offer me something, and instead spied her nametag out of the corner of my eye. Wait- a _nametag_? Why was she wearing a fucking _nametag_? I squinted at it. "Pillsbury."

Her eyes widened as if I had told her I was best friends with Michelle Obama. "That's my name."

Oh, okay. So she _can_ say other shit. Cool. I shrugged. "I guess so."

"That's my name," she repeated, firmer. "_My_ name. Not _its_ name. It's MY NAME."

"Sure. It's yours. _All_ yours," I said as I cautiously began to sweep my eyes around the shack. This lady was giving me seriously creepy feels. I definitely didn't want to be here a second longer than absolutely necessary. I kept one eye on Pillsbury, (seriously- that was her name?) and scanned the room with the other. Brittany was looking a lot more thoroughly, trusting me to handle Pillsbury, I guess. The lady seemed harmless, but she still gave me intense weird vibes.

"It can't have it," Pillsbury told me gravely.

"Whatever you say, Crazy," I mumbled under my breath as I looked around the table by the door. _Come on, _fuck_, it has to be here somewhere…_

"Because it's mine," she continued. I only vaguely listened as I searched. "My name. It will be back to take it from me, to take _everything_, but it can't have it, because it's _mine_."

"Yep…" I said monotonously. I was quickly growing frustrated. Maybe it was hidden outside? It _had_ to be here!

"It will be back," Pillsbury said confidently. My _God_, this woman was still _talking_? "They always come back. They never go away forever."

Brittany paused in her searching across the room to shoot me a look. I caught her puzzled gaze and we shared a conversation with our eyes.

_What the?_

_I have no fucking clue._ _No fucking clue what she's talking about._

Brittany shrugged and continued her search, moving on to the small crate next to the chair we had kept Sam in as a Controller. The memory kind of disturbed me. We had almost lost Sam to the Yeerks. His Yeerk's last moments had been rather painful to watch. Would we have to relive those with Puck? With Sam's parents? With _my_ parents? I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"-of them are you?" Pillsbury demanded, suddenly in my face. I straightened up quickly, my heart rate accelerating at her very sudden close proximity.

"What?" I asked, sounding only slightly panicked. Fuck, I had forgotten she was even there. Had she been talking to me? Shit, I had really drifted off.

"Are you one of them?" She demanded in a firm, angry tone. It sounded a lot like a cat trying to be intimidating, but at the same time there was a hard edge to her voice that raised my defenses immediately.

"One of who?" I asked cautiously.

"Them. The ones that live in _here_," Pillsbury tapped the side of her head. Her eyes looked, if possible, more crazed than they had minutes before. Was she talking about _Yeerks?_ Or had she just watched too much _Star Trek_?

I decided to play dumb. "Uh. No? How could I possibly fit in your head?"

She seemed satisfied with my answer for a moment. But then she gave me a suspicious look while I shifted uncomfortably under her sharp, bush-baby gaze.

"There's a way to find out," she said, her tone serious. I thought for a second. To find out what? If I could fit in her head? I was almost a thousand percent sure that it was impossible. Wait, was she talking about-

"DIE!" She screamed, raising her arm quickly.

"Wha- AGH!" I cried out as a small metal pot I hadn't even realized she'd been holding came crashing into the side of my head.

"Santana!" Brittany yelled from across the room as I staggered back. She sounded concerned. I couldn't really hear her over the ringing in my ears from the metal clanging against my skull, and what I was certain was the sound of my own brain sloshing around.

Oh. And Pillsbury's screeching.

"YEERK! YEERK! YEERK!" Pillsbury shrieked as I lost my footing and fell to the floor, both from the surprise of the sudden attack and from the force of the blow. I laid there, dazed for a very brief moment.

And then the pain kicked in.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT," I yelled, holding my head in agony. I'm pretty sure I felt blood but I didn't even care because my head was pounding so hard. "AUGH, WHAT THE _FUCK_, LADY! GODDAMN-FUCK-SHIT-"

My head was throbbing, but I opened my eyes a crack just in time to observe Pillsbury coming at me with the pot in her hand again.

Oh, FUCKING HELL TO THE NO. If this was her idea of figuring out if I had a Yeerk in my brain, I was _so_ not down for it. "Oh, _fuck_-"

Pillsbury raised the pot again- no doubt determined to beat me to smithereens- but Brittany grabbed her wrists, wrestling her off me as I moaned in pain, writhing on the wooden floor of the shack.

"What the fuuuuuuuuuck," I groaned as I sat up, still holding my head. Oh my GOD. The room was spinning. I was seeing stars. I had an instant headache. And I absolutely loathed that Pillsbury bitch!

I tried to focus on what was happening.

"DIE, YEERK! _DIE_! _YOU WON'T TAKE ME AGAIN_!" Pillsbury was shrieking and flailing like a mad woman. Okay, she _was_ a mad woman. But, fuck- augh, my _head_. Brittany had Pillsbury wrapped up in some sort of choke hold that I guess eventually made that bitch pass out. Once she did, Brittany let her fall unceremoniously to the floor, then rushed over to me.

"Santana," she said worriedly as she kneeled beside me, brushing hair back from my face and pressing her hand hesitantly to my bleeding forehead. I hissed at the contact. "Are you all right?"

"I've been better," I groused. "_Fuck_. What did I even _do_ to her? She didn't have to bash my brains loose!"

"I think she was just crazy."

"Fucking DUH," I growled, but Brittany ignored my tone, leaning forward and kissing my temple instead. I felt a teensy bit better. "How did she know about the Yeerks?"

"I don't know," Brittany said, furrowing her eyebrows in concentration. Even through the immensely painful throbbing in my head I thought she looked adorable. _Both_ of her. "Maybe the Yeerk in her head died?"

"Probably got lost out in these woods," I grouched. "Fuck, I still can't see straight. I think that pot gave me a fucking concussion. _Ugh_, that fucking _bitch_. Good thing you stepped in, or I'd've gone _all_ Lima Heights and _fucked_ her fucking shit _up_."

Brittany chuckled, stroking a gentle hand through my hair. "Such a dirty mouth, San."

I paused to lick my lips. Oh, man. So many flirtatious responses, and my mashed up brain couldn't even focus on one. Instead I just settled with an intense look, and Brittany blushed under it, realizing what she'd said.

She cleared her throat. "I th-think we should go."

"Yeah," I said with a teasing, sexy smile.

Well, as sexy as I could muster with a fucking _concussion_.

* * *

We searched fruitlessly around the outside of the shack for a while. Okay, Brittany did most of the searching while I bitched about the dent in my head. After she completed the search, we transformed to bird to fly to her scoop, and I felt instantly better. The transformation healed my injury and my vision and thought-process returned to normal.

When we reached Brittany's scoop, we landed and transformed back to our own forms, and, on a whim, I decided to take a stroll around while she rummaged through the small collection of items she had acquired over her time on Earth. I hadn't been to Brittany's scoop since I had first met her. The memory made me smile. I looked around at the small clearing and remembered why I was there to begin with. Brittany and Sebastian had fought at her scoop, and he had forcibly taken the cube from her. The thought made my stomach turn, but I moved past it. Where had he gone with it? Where had he hidden it? We weren't one hundred percent sure he _had_ even hidden it. We weren't a hundred percent sure about _anything_. It was a skeptical life, really.

I wandered absent-mindedly into the dark woods, noting the nearly full moon overhead. It was a little chilly. It was also pretty clear out, which made searching a lot easier, although maybe a nocturnal animal transformation might've helped. Lord Tubbington was nocturnal, right? I'd previously thought _all_ felines were nocturnal, but after becoming a cheetah-

Some leaves crunched behind me and I felt a chill run up my spine.

"Brittany?" I breathed, turning.

It was an Andalite.

But it was definitely not Brittany.

* * *

_[Well, well, well,]_ The Andalite I recognized as Dafydd-Karof-Scee said with a slightly sinister tone. He stood arrogantly, and in his hand was-

The blue box.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

_[It was carelessly and pathetically hidden under the root of a tree,] _Dafydd sneered, disgusted._ [As if the Escafil Device was some useless piece of technology.]_

I opened my mouth to reply but the light, rapid pounding of hooves signaled Brittany's imminent arrival, and within seconds she had appeared in front of me, standing between me and Dafydd protectively. My heart was hammering in my chest, and my stomach was twisting with nervousness. Dafydd and Brittany were not friends. I was insanely worried about how this confrontation was going to go. Especially when Brittany's tail twitched up into a familiar fighting position and her weight shifted.

Oh, fuck.

Dafydd laughed_. [Oh, hello,_ vecisth,] he taunted. _[I wasn't sure I'd get to see you on this lovely planet. Your pet human here told me you were stranded the last time we met.]_

_[She's not my pet,]_ Brittany said lowly.

_[Of course not- she'd be_ dead_ if that were the case, because you can barely take care of yourself, let alone a pet,]_ Dafydd continued in his insulting tone. I felt my hands balling into fists, I was so angry- how dare he talk to Brittany like that?- but what surprised me more was Brittany, herself: she was _shaking _with rage.

She ignored his insults, however, squaring her shoulders instead. _[Give me the Escafil Device, Dafydd. Willi-Amschu-Ester_ entrusted_ it to me.]_

_[And yet I found it _under a tree root_,]_ Dafydd said with obvious loathing_. [Which proves that a _vecisth_ is far too stupid to be_ entrusted_ with such an important piece of technology. I think I'll hold onto it, instead.]_

_ [That is not for you to decide,] _Brittany snarled. I'd never heard her so angry. It was weird, hearing her interact with her own people. I knew she despised the way her people treated her, but it was completely different hearing it come through in her interactions. Her stance was solid, guarded, defensive, and her front hoof pawed the ground, her tail tensing, ready for the snap. It made all the hair on the back of my neck stand on end as her tone grew deadly. _[Now hand over the Device, and walk away, Dafydd-Karof-Scee.]_

_[Or else what?]_ Dafydd jeered. _[Are you going to fight me? You may be an_ estreen_ but my tail is still faster-]_

It was so fast I missed it. But I heard Dafydd's roar of pain and anger. Brittany had _cut_ him- I knew it because I saw the sudden slice across his chest. Blue-black blood oozed from the wound and Dafydd's eyes were alight with rage.

_[You _dare_ challenge me?]_ he demanded, taking a step back, shifting his weight to his haunches and raising his tail menacingly.

_[Yes,]_ Brittany said without hesitation, her thought-speak voice firm.

_[Then prepare to _die_- you're even stupider than I thought! No one in their right mind would challenge me, and especially not _you_-]_

_[But I just_ did,_ or did_ you_ not understand my response?]_ Brittany countered angrily, her weight shifting again in preparation. She looked beautiful, deadly, and my heart pounded in a weird mix of fear and pride.

Dafydd's eyes narrowed. _[I will _destroy_ you,_ vecisth.]

_[We'll see,]_ Brittany said bravely, but I caught the waver in her response. She was scared.

And if Brittany was scared, then _I_ was _terrified_.

* * *

I watched in horrified fascination as Brittany and Dafydd blazed through some sort of ritual. I don't know, it involved them touching tailblades, circling each other warily, that kind of thing. Or maybe it was actually just them fighting. I didn't pay that much attention to it- I was in a state of shock. My mind was racing and my heart was pounding in anticipation. I hadn't realized it until they were up next to each other for comparison, but Dafydd's tailblade was _twice_ the size of Brittany's. He was bigger and stronger, too. Brittany was faster, and quicker on her hooves, but as they circled each other I began to panic a little at how much Dafydd towered over her, and oh fuck, oh _fuck_, they were about to _fight_-

I heard a crack and a slight whish as Dafydd's tail whipped forward, and Brittany's blocked it. I didn't see their tails, I only heard the impacts, and the _zing_ of the blades slicing through the air. I only saw their bodies move, or injuries appear in their skin. It was nerve-wracking to watch. I felt my stomach tightening further with anxiety. I felt sick, nauseous. It began to sink in- the girl I loved was fighting someone she couldn't possibly ever beat-

_No, don't think that way_. Brittany's so smart; she's so _fast_. She could win.

She _had_ to.

Dafydd was actually laughing, _laughing_ at her, and I cringed as his tailblade finally found its mark, cutting into her shoulder and carving a deep path straight down that ended at her ribs. Brittany remained silent, but I could tell through her heavy breathing and the slight anguish in her eyes that she was in some serious pain. My heart ached for her in sympathy- for her pain- and pride- at how brave she was for fighting Dafydd.

The fight seemed to go on for hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes long. I didn't catch a lot of it because it happened so fast and my thoughts were racing even faster, so that I couldn't process everything that was happening. I could only tell who was winning based on the various cuts that appeared. Brittany got some good cuts in; but her tailblade was so much smaller, and it didn't do as much damage as one of Dafydd's strikes. She really was faster and more graceful- an observation I made as I watched her move as if it were nothing- but her damage was so _small_, and she was so _hesitant_- _reluctant_ to do real damage- a sentiment I quickly noticed Dafydd didn't return, evidenced by him slashing again and again at her vital areas, each time barely missing thanks to Brittany's evasive skills. But he was getting closer, and I was getting more stressed out. Brittany was putting up a good fight, but there's no way she could keep it up against a seasoned monster like Dafydd.

It wasn't until after she narrowly avoided a particularly vicious stab, thankfully only gaining a superficial nick across her neck, that I realized she could lose. She could actually _lose_. And that meant she could _die_. That recent slice had missed, but _barely- s_he couldn't dodge forever. I almost felt my legs go out at the revelation that Brittany could die and I wouldn't even know until I saw her lifeless body crumple to the ground. Panic began to overtake me. I couldn't lose Brittany, she couldn't die, _no-_

Brittany paused in the fight, breathing hard; her eyes met mine for a brief moment, and I _knew_ in that moment that she had come to the same realization I just had- and she _accepted_ it.

But _no-_

I hadn't. And I _wouldn't_.

"Britt!" I yelled angrily. "Don't you _dare_! Give _up_, it's not worth dying over!"

Dafydd roared with laughter, which pissed me off further. _[Even your pet human thinks you're a failure!]_

"Shut up!" I turned to scream at him. My panic was fading, turning into rage. "She's not a _failure_- she's wonderful, and I- I-"

_[You what?]_ He demanded mockingly. _[You_ still_ have unnatural affections for her? Even knowing her mission?]_

I opened my mouth to say something, but I closed it, feeling overwhelmingly frustrated, angry, scared. Tears were springing to my eyes, what was _wrong_ with me? Admittedly, getting smashed in the head with a pot and then watching the love of my life almost get cut down by some ankle-grabbing alien wasn't exactly having the best effect on me right now. My emotions were going crazy, but _shit_. Of all things, I wasn't prepared for him to ask me _that_.

Brittany whipped her tail angrily, drawing our attention back to her. _[That is none of your business.]_

_[Wait.]_ Dafydd looked delighted, shocked. _[I know, now! You managed to convince her to love you,_ without_ revealing your mission! That's it, isn't it? I'm _impressed_,_ vecisth._ I knew you were talented, but that's going above and beyond-]_

_[Be _quiet_!]_ Brittany roared, this time snapping her tail forward at Dafydd to punctuate her demand. Dafydd blocked her strike clumsily, but managed to retaliate with a deep assault to her front leg. Brittany stumbled, blood pouring from the wound in her leg, and I felt time slowing down for me.

Watching Brittany get injured was more than I could handle. Terror and rage completely filled me up, took control of me, and before I realized it, I was charging forward, straight at Dafydd.

Stupid. Wrong move.

_[Santana, NO!]_ Brittany cried out but I didn't really process her words.

It all happened in a blur of blue. I heard Brittany cursing in a language I assumed was Andalite from my position on the ground. I was on my back, groaning, my head pounding, feeling split open. The tops of trees and the stars in the sky filled my field of vision. I heard the sound of hooves moving quickly in the dirt and foliage, the crack of their tails striking and blocking over and over.

I reached up gingerly to touch my head. I hissed at the pain, my fingers instantly coated in bright, red blood. I laid on the ground, trying to make my head stop spinning. What was with all the sudden blows to my head? There's no way that could be good for me, transformed or not. _Fuck_.

I carefully assessed the damage. I wasn't dead. That was a good sign. But I couldn't see out of my right eye. There was too much blood in it. Dafydd was nearby, I could sense that much. He was _close_. If I could just get closer to him, if I could just _touch_ him-

_[You were always a fool,]_ Dafydd sneered, and it took me a moment to realize he was talking to Brittany. _[That's why they assigned you to such a dangerous mission. No one ever expected you to actually _succeed_.]_

I slumped over to my left side, wriggling my way closer slowly, carefully. I felt a little like a fish flopping around in slow motion, but none of that mattered. Neither Dafydd nor Brittany were looking at me. Brittany was concentrating on not dying, but I knew it was only a matter of time. She was just not physically capable of defeating him. I steeled myself. I _had_ to get close enough to touch Dafydd.

_[In fact, we all_ hoped_ you would be killed- you and that moron Willi,] _Dafydd continued. I heard what sounded like a misstep. I focused on moving. _[What a disgrace- losing his fighting spirit just like that, just because his family was destroyed-_ pathetic._ He could have been a great Warrior!]_

_[He _was_ a great Warrior,]_ Brittany said angrily, but she sounded miserable, defeated. It broke my heart all over again. _[You are not to speak of him that way.] _

_[And what are you going to do about it,_ vecisth?] Dafydd taunted. I was getting really tired of hearing him call her that. Talk about overkill. _[You've already proven that you can't fight. You've never been of _any_ use, to _anyone_-]_

_[That's not true!]_

_[Well, except maybe to the_ Anati-]

_[Don't!]_ Brittany said, anguished. It surprised me. I stayed motionless, listening, my curiosity getting the better of me. It felt… wrong, the way Dafydd had said it, and I knew time was precious, but I couldn't bring myself to stop it as Dafydd continued.

_[An entire race- wiped out- thanks to you,_ vecisth!_ Does your pet human know_ that?]

_[Don't call her that,]_ Brittany said, but weakly, and the sound made my chest ache even worse. It's what snapped me into motion again. As much as I wanted to know about Brittany's mission, I didn't want to know at Brittany's expense. I moved again, praying Brittany would keep him distracted. He must've liked hearing himself talk, because he sure did a lot more of it.

_[Oh, right, I forgot- she_ loves_ you,]_ Dafydd sneered.

Brittany was silent. I inched closer, focusing on my goal. My vision was still a little blurry but I _had_ to do this.

_[Does she even know_ why_ you're here?]_

Again, Brittany was silent. I was almost close enough to touch Dafydd's back leg. I was going to have to get within reach and then make a mad grab for him, and hope that he reacted the way most animals did.

_[Does she know you're here to destroy the human r-]_

_[Stop,]_ Brittany said shakily, but Dafydd knew he'd hit a sensitive spot. I could tell by the gloating laugh. I felt my insides freeze, though, at his words. Brittany was here to _kill_ me?

Okay, maybe not _me_ specifically. But the human race… that's what he meant, right? But no, she couldn't be- she would've done it already. She'd had plenty of time. _Shit._ My thoughts raced even faster, and I seriously didn't have the clearest brain to process them all at that moment. Despite my counter-argument, I felt my heart hardening slightly in betrayal. For a split second I thought about letting Dafydd strike Brittany down- and then was absolutely appalled and broken that I'd _let_ myself think that. I still loved her- she still meant _everything_ to me- I couldn't just let her die without hearing her side-

I focused. I was within arm's reach. I took a deep breath and prepared to either end this thing, or die trying. Dafydd kept talking as I carefully curled into position, arranging myself.

_[She knows_ now,] Dafydd said triumphantly. _[Her race will end up just like the Anati did; and she has_ you_ to thank for it. Have you sent word to the Fleet yet?]_

_[Stop, please,]_ Brittany whispered, so anguished it was practically physically hurting me to hear, despite my own feeling of betrayal at the details of her mission. I knew I had to end her suffering, so with a sudden lurch, I closed the gap and wrapped my hand around the bottom of Dafydd's back leg. Seconds later I slammed my eyes shut and concentrated.

Before he could resist, Dafydd went quiet and slumped over slightly. I thanked whatever Higher Powers there were that he went into the normal, expected trance as I acquired him. I thought about his power, his tail, his hooves, and tried not to think about his deplorable, arrogant personality.

When I opened my eyes, I met Brittany's tortured, guilty ones. It was the first time I'd looked at her since being struck down by Dafydd's tail. She was a mess. She was bleeding in many places and one of her stalk eyes was missing.

_[San,]_ she said brokenly.

I shook my head slightly, giving her a serious look. Now was _not_ the time. We had to deal with Dafydd first.

_Get ready._

She straightened up and nodded. I took a deep breath and released Dafydd's leg, knowing we both had precious seconds before he came to his senses. I immediately began my transformation as Brittany whipped her tailblade forward and pressed it to his throat. It may have been small, but it could still do the job of severing his head if need be. I felt myself growing, muscles bulking, but I didn't pay much attention to the actual changes. I focused on Dafydd, and the sense of urgency spurred my transformation.

_[Don't move,]_ Brittany warned lowly as Dafydd slowly awoke from his trance.

_[You wouldn't,]_ Dafydd dared.

_[Maybe not,]_ I said, stepping out beside Brittany. _[But _I_ will.]_

Dafydd's eyes grew fearful as he saw me, an _exact_ copy of _himself,_ standing before him.

I concentrated and flicked my tail forward, but kept the blade at a safe distance from his throat, not trusting myself not to cut his head off by accident. I wasn't used to having such a strong, fast tail. I took a certain pleasure from the defeat that fell over his face as he realized that he wasn't good enough to take on _both_ a copy of himself _and_ Brittany.

_[So here's what's going to happen,]_ I said acidly. I hadn't forgotten that he had hurt Brittany, and I despised him for it. _[You're going to leave. Right now.]_

He glared at us, but he offered no argument. He knew he was beat. He took slow steps backwards until he was a few yards away. Then he turned and high-tailed it (no pun intended) out of the clearing.

I had let him take the cube. But I didn't plan on letting him escape for good. We were eventually going to get airborne and follow him, find out where he was hiding.

But _first._

I turned to Brittany._ [Gosh, I just can't leave you in the woods alone,_ ever,_ can I?]_

She smiled, that thing she did with her eyes. But it didn't fully reach them. It was empty. When she responded, her voice was sad. _[I guess not.]_

I decided I needed to cheer her up a little. I wanted Dafydd to get a head start, so he didn't think we were following him, so I had time. We'd track him down in a minute. And Brittany meant more to me than the cube, anyways (just don't tell Sugar.)_ [So,]_ I started, flexing my legs experimentally. I took a few steps. It was weird having six limbs. _[This is what it's like being you.]_

_[No, Santana. Dafydd-Karof-Scee is male and quite a bit larger in stature-]_

I laughed softly._ [I meant it rhetorically, Britt.]_

She hesitated, her eyes darting to the side. _[Of course.]_

It grew silent. Serious.

And then it hit me.

The realization of her mission came rushing back.

_She's here to destroy the human race._

We stared at each other for long moments, neither of us moving, neither of us daring to breathe too hard, afraid to break the intensity of the moment. I was at a loss for what to say to reassure her. I had a million questions, but I knew now was not the time or the place to ask any of them. I also knew that neither of us would be okay until we talked about it.

Finally, Brittany averted her eyes. All four of them.

_[So…]_ I started again.

_[Santana, can you please change back?]_ She whispered pleadingly.

Oh.

I didn't answer. I simply focused on my own body, and changed silently. I felt a little guilty- I had been a copy of Dafydd, and I'm sure that's the last person in the universe she wanted to see. Especially right then.

When I was standing on my own familiar two legs I took a deep breath. "Britt, I-"

_[Could you- just go? Please?]_ she asked brokenly. I'd never heard her sound so humiliated, so ashamed, not even when she had been talking to Dafydd. She was devastated. It made my heart ache all over again.

I was silent for a moment, contemplating her request. Contemplating my own response. I didn't move. I knew I wasn't going to leave her. And despite knowing the bare minimum of the details about her mission- I knew in my heart that, in that moment, I still loved her completely. But did _she_ know that? She stood unmoving for long minutes. Finally, I said quietly, "It doesn't change how I feel, you know."

_[San,_ please_-]_

"No. Listen, Britta-Nysp-Ierce," I said fiercely, moving to invade her space, forcing her to look at me. I wasn't going to let her close up on me. I'd told her so many times that I didn't care about her mission- she _had_ to know that I _meant_ it. "_I love you_. And I don't care what your mission is- or was- or _will be_, if you decide to-"

_[Santana,_ no-] she said quickly, trying to reassure me.

I shook my head. "I'm just saying, B," I mumbled. I reached out, grabbed her delicate Andalite hand, and held it between both of mine. I stroked the soft, lavender fur covering the back of her hand. It felt like crushed velvet, and I felt a smile tug at the corner of my mouth at the feel of it. "I'm not going anywhere."

When our eyes met, her blue ones held so many emotions it was hard to separate them all. But the chief one was gratitude, and I swallowed. I reached up cautiously with my free hand to stroke my fingers down her face. My fingertips barely grazed her skin. She shivered beneath my touch, and I smiled at her.

"But you know who _is?"_ I asked playfully, changing the tone of our moment. She shook her head slightly, humoring me, even though the small sparkle in her eyes told me she knew exactly what I was gonna say. "Dafydd, with the cube. So let's go get him. Sugar probably won't let us back in the _Batcave,_ otherwise."

Brittany nodded, her smile returning to her eyes. I smiled back at her, and we reached a silent agreement. We would talk about it all later. For right now, though, we were okay, and we had something more important to deal with.

_[Santana,]_ she said finally.

"Yeah, B?"

_[I love you, too.]_

I smiled gently at her and squeezed her hand. "I know you do."

* * *

Finding Dafydd was easy enough once we were up high. His gait was staggered. I guess he was waiting until he was far enough away from us to transform and heal his injuries, not trusting us not to ambush him when he was in the transition between forms. And let's face it, he was probably really slow at it. Because I was certain he wasn't even anywhere close to being as good at transforming as _me,_ let alone Brittany.

Unfortunately, we weren't the _only_ ones following him. Nor were we the only ones that found him.

We hid in the trees, in bird form, as a small Yeerk spacecraft that we called a Bug Fighter (it looked kind of like a beetle with no legs, just two sharp antennae sticking out from the front) landed in a nearby clearing. It was weird watching it just appear out of nowhere. It kicked up a cloud of leaves as it settled to the ground. Dafydd was immediately on edge. I had a feeling he was seriously regretting not healing his injuries. And in a sick, twisted way I kind of hoped he got his ass kicked.

We watched as several Hork-Bajir exited the spacecraft, contemplating what to do. There was no way we were going to dive in to save Dafydd, but we couldn't let the Yeerks have the cube, either. That was the worst thing that could possibly happen. It was a tough decision to make.

Just as I was thinking of a way to draw the Yeerks' attention from Dafydd, and the glowing blue prize he had in his hand, something I didn't expect happened.

Puck stepped from the spacecraft, and I forgot how to breathe.

He looked the same, but he _felt-_ different. It sounds lame as hell, but I swear, I could almost feel the aura of evil emanating from him as he swaggered down the ramp of the ship in a very Puck-like manner. It made my heart clench in pain at the familiarity of the move, but this was not _my_ Puck. It unsettled me.

And then Puck spoke.

"An _actual_ Andalite! How completely convenient!" he said cheerfully. It made me sick to hear his voice, knowing it wasn't _his_ voice. Knowing he was a slave to the Yeerk wrapped around his brain, controlling him. He was a prisoner in his own body.

_[How did you find me?]_ Dafydd demanded, standing tall and proud, his tail raised defensively. But Brittany had done some damage- he was still bleeding, and he favored his left side. No way was he going to win against seven Hork-Bajir warriors and Puck. No _way._

"The same way _you_ found the cube," Puck said with a casual roll of his shoulders. He gestured to a small device that one of the Hork-Bajir standing nearby was holding. "We've developed a special tracker, designed to pick up the energy signal emitted from the cube, and it led us straight to it- and, consequently, to _you_. _Awesome,_ right?"

_[Shit,]_ I murmured to Brittany, and Dafydd cursed as well, in his own language.

Puck grinned. The sight made me ache inside. "You're outnumbered, you might as well surrender."

_[An Andalite never-]_

"_Surrenders_, right, got it," Puck said with a roll of his eyes. He looked at the Hork-Bajir next to him, and some of them made noises that could've been their natural alien version of laughter. "So you'd rather do this the hard way."

Dafydd tensed. So did I. This was going to end badly.

_[I will fight you honorably,]_ Dafydd said seriously.

"Nope, sorry," Puck said, and before I could blink, he pulled out a Dracon Beam and shot Dafydd point-blank.

The Andalite collapsed, writhing in agony. The blue cube fell to the ground beside him. I watched as Dafydd snatched it up again desperately and quickly touched it in a series of spots, in some sort of pattern. When he finished, the cube lit up very briefly before dimming down completely. Puck angrily kicked it out of his hand seconds later.

_[Uh- did he turn it off?]_ I asked. I looked at Brittany, who was shaking her duck head in amazement.

_[He has de-activated it,]_ Brittany whispered. _[It will only re-activate with_ my_ touch. Because Willi-Amschu-Ester_ entrusted_ it to me.]_

_[Which means-]_

_[The Yeerks can't use it,]_ Brittany finished, relieved.

The Yeerks carefully surrounded Dafydd.

"Get him on the ship," Puck said, sounding almost bored as the Hork-Bajir moved in. I thought for sure it was all over, that we'd be seeing Dafydd's face the next time we encountered Visser Seven.

But, with a burst of strength I hadn't realized Dafydd could still have after fighting Brittany and then being shot down with a Dracon Beam, he brought his own tailblade to his throat.

_[I am the servant of the people,]_ he said solemnly.

"Stop him!" Puck cried, noticing the movement. The Hork-Bajir moved, but before they could even take one step, the muscles in Dafydd's tail twitched.

_[My life is given for the people,]_ Brittany whispered sadly.

* * *

We made it back to Sugary Mansion an hour or so later. The flight home was spent in contemplative silence. I thought a lot about everything that had happened over the night. I thought about Pillsbury, and what a sad, miserable existence she must have. I wondered if she had a family that missed her. Maybe people that cared about her, that didn't know she'd been taken over by aliens and forgotten in the woods. Maybe her family were all Controllers. Maybe they weren't. Maybe they wished she'd come home every night, and she didn't even know because she was crazy.

I thought about Dafydd. I wondered why he hated Brittany so much. Maybe he was just jealous. Obviously he seemed like he had a lot to prove to himself. I didn't really know him, but he didn't exactly have the most charming and charismatic personality. He must've had to work hard to get where he was, in the military. And maybe that was just it- Brittany's talent came natural to her. But how could he possibly be jealous of her because she was an _estreen?_ She was disliked and ridiculed, despite her sweet nature, by her people for having an unconventional way of thinking. It really boggled my mind how Dafydd could hate her for that.

Of course, I had no way to know for sure why he hated her. And now I would _never_ know. I wanted to feel bad about Dafydd's death, but I just couldn't. I can't say I wouldn't have made the same choice he did when faced with the possibility of being infested. I'd commit suicide, too, rather than become a slave to the Yeerks.

Which brought my thoughts to Puck. It was hard seeing him again- harder than I thought it would be. He hadn't had the choice to kill himself- but would he, if he had? No- not if he trusted us to get him out. He honestly believed that we would find a way to save him someday. And that's what we would have to do. The Yeerks had the cube, now, but they couldn't use it, not without Brittany re-activating it. We would eventually have to mount a mission to get it- and maybe we could get Puck out, too. It was risky and would take a lot of planning.

But there was no way I was sitting through all that planning tonight. I'd tell Sam what happened in the morning.

I glanced briefly over at Brittany's duck, flying beside me. I had been trying not to think of the complications that had just arose in our relationship due to her mission. But we were going to have to address it sooner rather than later. I knew that it didn't change the way I felt about her _now-_ but once I knew everything, I had no way of knowing for certain if it would change in the future or not. It was a little scary.

Those thoughts plagued me as we returned to human and Brittany and I entered the grounds of the mansion through the special access gate. She slid her hand in mine, causing me to jump in surprise. Her look of hurt at my reaction did not go unnoticed by me, and I squeezed her hand reassuringly as we walked swiftly into the building that held the lift down to the _Batcave,_ where Brittany entered the code in the lift panel.

We rode down in silence, and when we reached the living quarters, it was completely silent, signaling that it was late enough that everyone was asleep. We crept quietly to our room, and I realized with a twinge of sadness that our encounter with Dafydd had hindered us from our original mission. We hadn't succeeded in bringing any of Brittany's things back from her scoop, which meant she still didn't have anything familiar to give her comfort. I sighed.

Brittany squeezed my hand. "San?" she breathed hesitantly. I could hear the note of fear in her voice. I turned to her. Our eyes met. She moved forward carefully and cupped my face in her hands. Then she kissed me, soft at first, but more insistent, more desperate as it continued on. After long moments she pulled back and rested her forehead on mine, and I noticed that she was shaking.

I swallowed, tears springing to my eyes automatically. This was it.

"Britt," I said, my voice cracking. She shook her head slightly, but I continued. "You promised you would be honest with me." She remained silent as I said, "I need you to be honest now."

She lifted her head slightly, just enough so that our gazes locked. Her blue eyes were dark, dejected- I took a deep breath. I had to know something important.

"Was I just an experiment to you?"

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly in shock. I don't think she was prepared for that question, or even expected me to ask it. But after Dafydd had seemed so- _impressed_ with her performance, I couldn't say the thought that I was just some fleeting part of her mission hadn't crossed my mind. I wanted to give her a chance to reassure me before we got into what was surely going to be a much heavier topic.

When she recovered from her initial surprise, she began shaking her head vehemently. "No, Santana- you were _never_ an experiment. You were- you _are_ real."

I nodded. "Okay." I moved to sit on the bed, patting the space beside me. She sat next to me, putting a few inches of space between us. I loathed the distance, but until we cleared whatever weird feeling had settled between us, it was for the best.

"So, Dafydd said-" I started.

"Santana, he _shouldn't_ have-"

"Was what he said _true?"_

Brittany was quiet for a moment. I felt my fear rising. Oh, _God,_ Dafydd was right. He was _right._ My panic began to come out in words. "Was it true, Brittany? Did you come here to-"

"Do you trust me?" Brittany asked suddenly.

I was taken aback by the question. It was a rather inappropriate question. I mean, she'd pretty much been keeping this huge secret the entire time I'd known her. And I'd _enabled_ her to do it, because I wanted to live in blissful ignorance. So I was just as much to blame for not knowing as she was. But _trust?_ I trusted Brittany with my life.

"Yes," I said quietly.

Brittany smiled slightly, nervously, and took a deep, shaky breath. She looked into my eyes.

And I saw the truth.

"Yes."

* * *

I felt tears forming in my eyes. This could not be happening. This shit happened in _Star Wars_, not my life. How the fuck could I fall for someone- a girl- an _alien-_ who was sent to my planet to wipe out my entire race? You can't fucking make that shit up! I felt myself caving, sadness rolling through me like a wave. This on top of everything else was just too much, it was _too much_-

"Santana, I'm so sorry," Brittany breathed, cupping my face and wiping my tears away. She sounded about to cry herself as she rushed to explain herself. "I- I was sent here because of my _talent,"_ she nearly spat the word. "When they discovered I was an _estreen,_ they also discovered that I have a knack for blending in, for putting people at ease. Call it my dumb, non-threatening nature," she said bitterly. I was surprised that I still felt sympathy for her, despite the fact that everything I knew about her was crumbling. "When the Yeerks move in on a species, the Andalites do, too-"

"Right," I said, trying to focus on her words and not on the feeling of betrayal I felt. Give her a chance to explain herself. _Give her a chance_.

"But we don't know every species in the galaxy, or why the Yeerks could possibly want them- or- or what their _w-weakness_ is."

Suddenly, it all made a lot more sense.

"So when the Yeerks take over a species, you figure out how to destroy their new host body," I said bitterly. I shook my head. All those times she'd spent being human, claiming it was because she liked being with me? Were those all just her learning our _weaknesses_?

"Santana, _please,"_ Brittany pleaded, taking my hand. "I know what you're thinking- and that's not it at all."

"Then what _is_ it?" I asked harshly. "Because I really don't know what to think, Brittany. Fuck."

"I- I don't _like_ my job or my mission; but it's what I was chosen for and we- we are in a _war._ Some sacrifices have to be made."

"So you were sent here to learn our weaknesses… and what else? I know that's not the whole thing. Dafydd said something about the _Ashanti."_

"The Anati," Brittany corrected. "And you're right- that's _not_ all." She took a deep breath. "When the Yeerks take over a planet, the Andalites must make a choice. Can the planet be saved? That is to say, do we still have a chance to save the host species and defeat the Yeerks? Or have they completely infested the species?"

"So _you_ asses that?"

"No. The Electorate does. But once they decide the planet can't be saved, the Andalites have to know how to wipe them out."

My stomach dropped.

_Wipe them out._

Wipe _humans_ out.

"W-what?" I whispered, horrified. I looked at her, confused, begging her to explain. When she remained silent, I pressed, "So you help determine the best way to destroy a species?" She nodded. "Would you- would you have done it to us humans? Wiped us out?" My stomach churned. I wasn't sure I wanted to know her answer.

"I don't know _what_ they would've decided for the human race," Brittany admitted sadly. "When I returned the information on the Anati home world- Sector 12, SG-725-9- I didn't know, then, the extent of what that information would bring. It was my first mission, the first time I could actually be put to use, and I- I was finally proud to be able to contribute something worthwhile."

Brittany offered me a shaky smile, and I couldn't stop myself from grabbing her hand and holding it in mine. I felt sad for her younger self- she had finally found something she could do, and it was _genocide_. How _awful_. My heart ached at the thought.

"Once I relayed the information, it was too late to stop it," Brittany continued, her voice growing more anguished. "My people tried, of course- tried to stop the Yeerks. But if an entire race is enslaved, they'll either be killed as slaves through conflict or killed free as innocents. Either way results in the slaughter of an entire race. It's not an easy choice to make. Die as slaves? Or die free? Either way, death is the result."

"So the Andalites wiped them out."

Brittany bowed her head. "Yes."

"And they're going to do the same to us?"

"If it comes to that. They- they're waiting on my information." She eyed me carefully, waiting to see how I'd react.

"And did you figure it out?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow at her.

"What humans need to survive?" Brittany asked. "They cannot survive without _many_ things. They cannot survive without water, like many hydrogen-based organisms. Or without oxygen. But more than that, they cannot survive without _each other_, in several capacities. Humans rely on technology that other humans have created; they require basic affection and love, and an organization of government that protects them. While it is not entirely impossible for extraordinary humans to survive under extreme circumstances, I believe that, without others, the majority of humans would perish. Many do not know how to satisfy even the most basic needs."

I nodded, thoughtful. She had certainly learned a lot. I was strangely proud of her, even though her knowledge meant the slaughter of the human race. "When did you figure it out?"

"My first day on Earth," she said with a shrug. Then added, "But I have subsequently learned that I haven't figured _any_ of it out."

I gave her a puzzled look. "What?"

"Since becoming a human I have become more and more confused and less confident in my original determination- humans are fascinating, unpredictable and surprising."

"But clearly the information you have learned is enough to severely decimate the human population... Why not tell the Andalites? Why haven't you?" I asked, a little angrily.

Brittany winced, but her gaze didn't falter. Her voice was soft and sincere as she spoke. "Because I- _love you_, Santana. And I e-enjoy being with you, being _human_. I have never _belonged_ among my own people," she slid closer to me, resting her forehead against mine and breathing the next words, "but when I'm with you, like this, I've never felt like I could belong _more_."

I swallowed down the tears that threatened to overwhelm me. It was too much to process. Brittany _hadn't_ betrayed me- not yet. And I only knew that I loved her with every fiber of my being in that moment. And I wanted to show her that the best way I knew how.

I kissed her deeply, sliding my hand to the back of her neck and pulling her into me. I massaged her gently at the base of her skull as I kissed her, soothing and reassuring her that everything was all right between us. She leaned forward into my kiss, her hands cupping my face as I sucked and nibbled at her lips, working her up into a trembling mess.

Our kiss quickly turned frenzied, and within minutes I was pulling her to climb on top of me on our tiny bed, laying back and reveling in the weight of her body pressed against me. Her tongue entered my mouth, sliding against mine, making me shiver, and when we pulled back for air, Brittany attacked my neck with her mouth.

I squirmed beneath her, desperate for more contact. I gripped her wrist and guided it down to my shorts, hearing her breath hitch at my forwardness. I needed it, though- I _couldn't wait._ I wanted her to touch me, I wanted her to remind me that I belonged to her. My emotions had been on a rollercoaster the past few days, but through it all, my love for her remained constant. And even now, after finding out the seedy parts of Brittany's reason for being on Earth, I could safely say that it always would.

I pushed her hand past the waistbands and down, and we both gasped when she finally touched me. Her lips pressed to my neck and she moved to gently touch me like she had in the past, but I pushed her hand down farther, guiding her fingers to my more-than-ready entrance.

I practically heard her swallow. "San," she half-moaned, half-whispered into my throat, and I pushed her hand more insistently, letting my other arm curl around her shoulders, pulling her impossibly closer. I wanted to be closer, I wanted to climb inside her, I wanted-

"Go inside me," I breathed into her ear, and she shivered in my arms, but obeyed. I kept my grip on her wrist, feeling the muscles in her forearm flex as she moved, slowly pushing two fingers into me. We both moaned, and I arched up into her as much as I could with her weight pressing me flat to the bed. I wrapped one leg around her waist, giving her better access, and bucked my hips in encouragement. She kissed me and began to move her hand.

I couldn't breathe. Between her kisses stealing the breath from my lungs, my own panting from the acceleration of my heart, and her body pressed on top of me preventing me from taking a full breath, I felt like I might die. I felt like I was floating. Brittany's fingers drove into me slowly, repeatedly. She didn't pick up the pace, but kept the same steady rhythm, and I felt myself building at a leisurely pace. She kissed me lazily, sucking my tongue, playfully biting my lips, and all the while driving me crazy.

"I love you," she breathed against my lips in between kisses. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

"I love you, too," I panted, feeling myself clench around her fingers. I was getting close. My thighs were tense, and I couldn't control the rolling of my hips into the movement of her hand. I was still holding her wrist, and the way her muscles felt beneath my fingers as she plunged into me over and over made me shudder.

"Br-Britt, right- _yeah_," I gasped as Brittany curled her fingers on her exit. _Fuck_-

I felt myself arching up into her. I clutched at her shoulders, and she kissed me hard.

"I love you."

I came apart beneath her, holding her tightly. Tears sprang to my eyes, emotion overwhelming me. I felt kind of stupid. I mean, who cries during sex? But it was in that moment that I realized that I had been so scared of finding out about her mission, so scared that I was going to lose her, so scared that she was going to leave me for a grab-bag of reasons. And even though we hadn't really talked about what was going to happen when the war ended, I just had a feeling I didn't need to worry about it anymore.

Brittany had chosen me over her own people. And the fact that someone loved me _so much,_ someone loved me, _loved me_- had me overcome with emotion.

Brittany kissed my tears away, and didn't stop the movement of her hand between my legs. It didn't take long until she had me falling apart in her arms for a second, and then a third time. She held me until I came back down, held me while my tears dried, held me until my trembling stopped. I didn't know if she sensed how scared I had been, or how much I needed her to reassure me. All I knew was-

She didn't let go. And I wasn't scared anymore.

* * *

**OUR COUNTRY IS SAFE AND SO IS OUR SHIP.**

**Okay, so, review if you want, beautiful people! :D**

**I PROMISE I WILL BE ON TIME NEXT WEEK. **

**Just for shits- is anyone actually _watching_ Glee tomorrow night? Because, like. No Brittana, no fucks given. That's my motto. ;) **

**All right, see you on Monday! 8)~**


	17. Unsinkable

**Hello, dear readers! **

**Hope you had a lovely couple of days! Did _Glee_ suck, or did _Glee_ suck? What? It _sucked?_ Wow, I'm so surprised! XD**

**Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, you guys are always awesome!**

**Here is the next part, which is pretty fluffy- it's a nice break from all the angst, right? Spoiler warning if you haven't seen _Titanic,_ but really, other than Andalite!Brittany, who _hasn't_ seen _Titanic?_ **

**Also a friendly reminder that this story is still M-rated. ;)**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

"_Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was."_

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the cheesiness of one of Rose's most famous lines from one of the most famous movies and shoved some more popcorn into my mouth. It was late- so late that it was actually very early- and Brittany and I were snuggled under a blanket on the couch in our underwear and sleep shirts, secluded in the entertainment room after our earlier tryst in bed. Neither of us could really sleep for longer than an hour, so we decided to see what was on TV, and one of the movie channels was showing an all-day marathon of _Titanic_.

Despite the fact that I was trying to act nonchalant about the movie, I knew better. _Everyone_ pretends they don't like _Titanic_, but then they're reciting the lines and falling in love with Jack (or Rose, as the case may be) all over again and blubbering like a pathetic baby by the end.

Brittany and I were surrounded in darkness, the only light coming from the enormous LED-screen TV that was so clear I could see all of Kate Winslet's pores. The privacy and darkness was comforting, soothing- it made me feel like Brittany and I were in our own world, made me forget that we were actually located too far underground to feel okay about, in a shelter surrounded by crazy people- all because we were on the Yeerks' Most Wanted list. But sitting on the couch, with Brittany tucked into my side, a small bowl of popcorn shared between us, was a small glimpse of how I hoped the rest of my life could be, if we ever won the war.

And if we made it out alive.

"…_but I'm too involved now. You jump, I jump, remember?"_

I tried not to think about those thoughts and focused on the movie instead. And the tiny pressure of Brittany beside me. I glanced at her for a moment, smiling at the look on her face. She was completely enraptured, and she hadn't stopped shoveling popcorn into her mouth since I set the bowl down between us. It made me laugh and wonder if she would ever get used to having a mouth, years from now when we-

I took a steady, calming breath. I was getting carried away with my thoughts. It was a little soon, right? I couldn't allow myself to get too hopeful. We still had a lot of war to fight; and as much as I _believed_ that Brittany wasn't going to leave me after the war (assuming we were alive by the end of it) it hadn't exactly been _confirmed_, though I honestly couldn't imagine her returning to her people after everything she'd been through.

Then again, I couldn't really imagine her ever doing the job she'd been assigned to do, either, though she'd obviously done it on other planets- I didn't even know how many. The thought made me swallow and sigh. I couldn't deny that Brittany was great at her job. I couldn't pretend I didn't notice. I had marveled at how fast she picked up on our body language, our gestures, and how great she had been at kissing- the memory made my face heat up and my pulse race. She was _still_ good at learning, as she had demonstrated a few hours prior when she had her fingers inside me. I bit my lip and squirmed a little, but if Brittany noticed, she didn't say anything. She reached for another handful of popcorn as Rose commissioned Jack for a drawing. I looked to see Brittany's reaction- her eyes were surprised and unblinking as a very naked Kate Winslet arranged herself on the couch.

"Humans are allowed to be naked in movies?" She asked softly, genuinely intrigued.

I shrugged. "Sometimes."

She made a small sound of wonder and we did the most cliché thing ever- we both reached for popcorn at the same time, and my hand touched hers. I wanted to roll my eyes, except our gazes met instead. I felt instantly trapped by her blue eyes, which were a shade darker because of the darkness of the room, the reflection of the TV shining in them. Brittany held my gaze for a long moment, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth after she finished swallowing the popcorn she'd been chewing. The cheesy piano version of "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie really made me feel silly about the whole thing, but at the same time, it was _Brittany_- and my heart pounded just from having her eyes on me.

My thoughts raced back to how disarming she was. She had managed to break through every one of my defenses in such a short amount of time- no one had ever done that. Most people gave up quickly, because they never made any progress past the brambles. But Brittany had simply skipped right through them without even trying. It was alarming, and I didn't forget how scary it had been to suddenly have someone know me so intimately. Really, though, when I thought about it- she had done it with the entire group. None of us had ever _not_ trusted her- we just accepted her immediately. Puck had been enamored with her off the bat, but I couldn't tell if that was all Brittany or if it was just Puck being Puck and going after a hot piece of ass; probably a little of both. The fact that that "hot piece of ass" had chosen _me_ of all people was flattering, and slightly overwhelming. But Brittany had definitely _chosen_ me. She put effort into getting to know me, into spending time with me, and we were drawn to each other in ways I couldn't even have begun to guess at, even in the beginning.

The revelation still shocked me. _Brittany chose me. _

My heart melted a little, and I sighed. The sound of Brittany clearing her throat next to me made me re-focus on the movie.

"_Where to, Miss?"_

"_To the stars."_

I swallowed. I mean, don't get me wrong, I never understood the "hand on the window" thing (what position where they even _in_ for her to be able to do that? Seriously, the placement was just weird) and it was kind of creepy in general, but the intimacy of the scene didn't escape me. They were obviously two people in love, and the actors' chemistry was undeniably great at communicating that. They were two people sharing their first sexual experience, giving each other what no one else could ever have-

I looked at Brittany as she settled further into my side. I wanted to share that kind of intimacy with her. I wanted to make love to her. More than anything, I wanted her to give me what she could never give to anyone else. That thought made me swallow again, hard.

Out of habit, I turned the movie off after the iceberg hit the ship, leaving the TV on, the blank blue screen casting a faint glow over Brittany, who was giving me a quizzical look.

"I don't like to watch it after the iceberg hits," I offered in explanation, remembering the long-ago VHS tape and how I usually never bothered to put the second tape in. Who the hell likes to cry for hours?

"But what happens?" Brittany asked, confused and slightly eager for details. I felt a little bad, forgetting for a moment that she didn't really know how the movie ended because she hadn't watched the movie since she was eleven like the majority of the population- but I was definitely sparing her some heartache. Or at least, I _supposed_ I was. How would I know if she would be moved by the death of a bunch of people? She knew the movie was based on a true story- how true that story was in her mind, I didn't know. Nor did I really want to, at the moment. I had other things on my mind.

"The ship sinks. Jack dies." I shrugged and then smoothly moved to straddle her lap, arranging the blanket around us. Brittany's eyes widened; whether in response to me suddenly being in her lap or to my statement about the fate of Jack Dawson, I wasn't sure. And it was just another thing I didn't really care about as I leaned forward to place a hot, open-mouthed kiss to the side of her jaw.

"He dies?" Her voice wavered, and I gently nipped down her jawline, smiling to myself at the effect I was already having on her as her breathing began to pick up audibly.

"Mmhm," I hummed in a sultry tone against her cheek, leaning forward further to press my body fully against hers and wrapping my arms around her neck. I moved to kiss the spot under her ear that I knew would make her shiver, and, sure enough, as my lips touched her skin, I felt the familiar tremor run through her body and she gasped, sliding her arms around me. It only fueled my desire, my desperate want to have her falling apart beneath me. The now-familiar throb between my legs was pretty good evidence of that.

"But- that's not a very happy ending," she said weakly, trying to keep up some semblance of conversation.

"Mm-mm." I slowly and gently bit down on the sensitive spot, and her hips jolted up involuntarily in response, her arms tightening around me. I smiled into her neck and began slowly sucking the spot, drawing it out, teasing her skin with my tongue, driving her crazy. She squirmed beneath me. I throbbed harder.

"But how did he d-die?" she asked, her voice laced with arousal and so small I barely heard it. I resisted the urge to grind down into her. She was so warm, and I could feel heat and wetness between my legs. The only thing between us was our panties, and I was pretty sure mine were already well on their way to being their own version of _Titanic- _wet. I was so turned on, it took me by surprise. I hadn't realized I'd wanted her so badly- especially since she'd just fucked me literally a few hours ago. But that was _hours_ ago. "I thought the ship was _unsinkable."_

"Britt, there's a lot of talking going on," I purred into her ear before I began to suck on her earlobe. "And I wants to get my mack on."

I heard her swallow.

"O-okay," she whispered, shivering, only slight confusion in her voice. I smirked as I realized that "mack" probably didn't process in her translator chip. I chuckled in her ear, letting my warm breath blow over it, and she squirmed beneath me again.

"Did that translate, baby?" I murmured before I teased the shell of her ear with my tongue. She shook her head slightly, releasing a loud breath. Her hands slid to my hips, pushing my sleep shirt up, her grip tight. The warmth of her palms on my skin sent a thrill up my spine. I grinned. "It means _I_ _want_ _you_."

She whimpered beneath me, pulling my hips against her, and I couldn't withhold my gasp as I pressed against her bare stomach, my soaked underwear pushing into me as well. I tried to stifle a moan, but it came out strangled instead, and I couldn't resist leaning forward to kiss her deeply, passionately. She tasted like a mixture of popcorn and her own unique taste as she kissed me back, forcing her tongue into my mouth, rubbing it sensually against mine and working me up higher. I hadn't realized I'd been rocking against her firm stomach until she moaned into my mouth and her hands slid down to cup my ass, pulling me into her. I could smell our mixed arousal- it was intoxicating, and as she sucked on my bottom lip teasingly, I didn't restrain my moan, letting her guide my hips against her.

I was embarrassingly close to coming. A few more thrusts and I'd be falling apart on top of her, and she wasn't even touching me, really. I tried not to feel pathetic as I rested my forehead against hers, breathing hard as she reached up to cup my face. She looked at me, her eyes dark and clouded with want, with love- and I felt my thighs trembling as I neared my release.

"Santana," she gasped, looking slightly overwhelmed, like she couldn't believe I was grinding myself to completion on top of her. I kissed her clumsily, gasping for breath. My hips faltered in their steady rhythm; I lost control and bucked erratically against her as I finally reached the edge. I let loose a loud moan into her mouth as my orgasm crashed over me in soothing waves, and I shivered deliciously in her arms, feeling so safe and loved as she held me close to her while I came back down, breathing hard.

After a moment I kissed her leisurely, keeping her fire stoked. Now that I had gotten my release, I could focus completely and unhurriedly on her. I smiled against her lips, her deep, rapid panting not going unnoticed by me.

I gave her a predatory smile before I stood up from her lap. Her eyes followed me hungrily, and she leaned forward, as if attached to me by an invisible string. I held out my hand in offering. "Come to bed."

I saw her visibly swallow, but she didn't hesitate to take my hand.

* * *

Once we were safely in our room, with Brittany having transformed to re-start her time limit, I took a moment to appreciate her. I didn't want to rush the experience. All of our other encounters had been frenzied- still meaningful, of course, but I never really had a chance to slow down and really show her how much I loved her. And I wanted to do that, now. It was a strange feeling for me. Our encounters had been rushed partly from circumstance, but partly because that's the only way I knew how.

But Brittany was different. I enjoyed our intimate moments, of course I did, but with us there was _more_. I wanted there to be more. I had never wanted there to be more with anyone else. So, in a way, we were both sailing into uncharted territories.

Okay, what's with all the ship references? Maybe watching _Titanic_ hadn't been such a great thing after all.

We stood a few inches from each other, and I just let my eyes trace over her body, still clothed in her shirt and panties. She was breath-taking, even clothed. I had only seen her completely naked the first time we met, and I felt my cheeks heating up at the memory, and at the realization that I was about to become completely familiar with her nakedness momentarily.

Her expression began to grow worried the longer I stared at her, so I offered her a small, reassuring smile, and reached out to gently graze my fingertips up the toned muscles of her forearms, then carefully over her biceps, ending at her bare shoulders. She closed her eyes at the sensation, and I felt her shaking beneath my fingers. I let them return down the same path, ending at her hands, and I moved forward, closing the gap between us and entering her space. She was so close I could feel her breath on my face, the warmth emanating from her body, and I almost couldn't resist the urge to kiss her, instead averting my eyes to our hands.

Softly, again just barely touching her, I let my fingers tease under her shirt, skimming her stomach and around to the small of her back, feeling the strong arch of her muscles. She was so, so beautiful. Even though it was just a form, it was still a form _she_ had _created_. It made me think back to her admiration for _morph dancing_, and how she longed to be as good at shifting forms as her idol, to create something beautiful.

She had.

I let my thumbs stroke her hipbones, hearing her sharp intake of breath, and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss at the corner of her mouth. Her lips parted further, and I reached up to trace my thumb over her bottom one. She opened her eyes to look into mine and I swallowed, searching her blue depths. They were darker than I'd ever seen them, and held so much desire and adoration it nearly took my breath away. It didn't escape me how sappy and completely romantic I was being, but again, I didn't care- it was _Brittany_, and somehow I just melted into an emotional puddle of feelings when I was around her.

I slid my hand down to cup her jaw, then leaned up to kiss the corner of her mouth again, working my way around to her cheek and leaving soft kisses across her face. I kissed down her neck, listening to her rapid, heavy breathing. I kissed her pulse point with an open mouth, letting my tongue glide across it briefly, and she sucked in a breath and held it. Her pulse was racing beneath my lips, and I continued down to her collarbones, which were just peeking out from her shirt. I teased my tongue along them, smiling against her skin when I felt Brittany tangle a tentative hand in my hair, cradling me gently.

I placed a hand on her chest, feeling her heart pounding beneath it, threatening to shatter her ribs; then I slid my hands down to the hem of her shirt, slipping them beneath it and moving them upwards to remove it. Once it was off and forgotten on the floor, I let my eyes trace over her heaving chest. I'd seen her breasts before; felt them beneath my mouth, even. The reminder made my mouth water (only slightly, all right?) but I let my eyes linger on her chest. Her nipples were stiff, confirmation that she definitely liked the slow seduction we were engaging in. I snapped my eyes back to her face, taking in her parted lips, her lust-clouded eyes, the flush of pink on her freckle-spattered cheeks. She was alluring, attractive in every sense of the word, and I felt a strong jolt of arousal, my own sudden, overpowering desire returning with a vengeance. I surged forward and kissed her fully, and the second our lips met, a moan rumbled up from her throat, spurring me on. As if I needed encouragement.

I hooked my fingers into her panties, the only barrier left, and tugged them down her long, toned legs. She stepped out of them without breaking our kiss, and I let my arms slide around her waist, pulling her flush against me. She was shaking in my arms, and I let my hands wander over the smooth skin of her body. She kissed me thoroughly, and I felt myself losing just a little bit more control. It was crazy how easily she could unravel me from just a kiss.

Somehow we ended up on the bed. I moved on top of her, and she tugged insistently at my shirt. I broke our passionate kiss for a moment to remove it, before letting myself settle back on her. I sighed into her mouth at the feeling of all her warm skin against all of my warm skin. It was an amazing feeling being almost completely naked against her. Her hands smoothed over my back, stroking from my shoulders down to my thighs and around to my ribs. I kissed her until she was whimpering beneath me, her hips pushing up against me desperately, searching for friction.

I smiled against her lips and instead kissed my way to her chest, finding a different way to torture her. I wanted to drag it out for as long as possible. I wanted to kiss her everywhere, discover every spot that made her gasp or moan. I wanted to build her up until she broke. So I did.

I kissed all over her chest, teased her nipples, licked down her abs, across her stomach, sucked on the V of her hips, kissed down the insides of her thighs, all while she bucked, moaned, writhed, _begged_ beneath me. I planted a kiss at the apex of her thighs and she gasped so loud I thought maybe she came- but she was still wound up tight, still trembling in anticipation as my mouth explored the endless expanse of her smooth skin.

Her hands restlessly gripped the sheets tightly by her side, tugged at her own hair, at _my_ hair, clutched my shoulders, squeezed my hand when it was within reach. When I was done- hah, I would _never_ be _done_- I kissed up the center of her torso and slid out of my own panties so that we were both completely naked. Then I straddled her left thigh and kissed her deeply.

She immediately pushed her hips up, but I kept my thigh away from her center, instead trailing my fingers down her lower stomach. The muscles tensed and she let out a frustrated sigh.

"Santana-" she whimpered, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me against her, so that our breasts pressed together, so that I was rubbing against her thigh, so that I couldn't help sighing at the feeling of all of it. I kissed the side of her chin and moved my hand lower, my own desire guiding my actions. I needed to touch her. I couldn't resist it a moment longer.

She cried out as I finally made contact, her hips thrusting up involuntarily against my fingers. I shuddered at how wet she was as I explored her. Oh, God, she was completely soaked, and as I teased her entrance, my thoughts racing, her arms tightened around me.

"Take it, Santana," she breathed against my ear. "I- I want you to have it."

I swallowed. There she went again, always knowing what I was thinking. It was uncanny how well she could read me. I wanted to ask if it would be a _permanent_ change, but then I mentally smacked myself. _Stay in the moment, Idiot._

"It's- going to _hurt_-"

"I know-"

"Brittany-" I felt my throat constricting as a wave of emotions crashed over me. This was it. I was scared- fuck, I'd never done this before, either, not to a girl- but I wanted it more than anything. I wanted to be her first, in every way that I could be. I really wanted to be her _last_- but-

_One thing at a time. Idiot._

Brittany was shaking with anticipation and desire, her body still tensed beneath me. My hand was trembling with nervousness, but I took a deep breath. I moved to kiss her, and at the same time, entered her at a steady pace, pushing forward quickly to cause her the least pain. She tensed beneath me when I took it, then sighed into my mouth, and I couldn't help smiling against her lips at the realization that she was now mine. She was _mine_. She would always belong to me. And even though I couldn't offer her the same _physically_, I belonged to her in every other sense, in every other way possible.

After a moment, she kissed me more fervently, and I pulled my fingers out slowly before pushing them back in. She moaned beneath me, her hands moving to hold on to me in some way as I continued to move inside her at a constant, relentless pace. Her grip grew tighter the closer she got to her release, and I focused on every sensation. How can I even describe what it's like being inside of her? I mean, _wow_. She was so smooth, and tight, and the way she clenched around my fingers-

I gasped in her mouth as a particularly hard thrust of my hips against her thigh sent a huge jolt of pleasure coursing through me. I was grinding against her, working myself up to a release as well as her. She was just so _hot_- the way she responded, the way it felt inside her, the fact that she was _mine_- ugh. She was close- I could tell by the way her hips were moving irregularly against my hand as I pumped my insistent fingers into her.

She panted my name, her hands clutching me even tighter. I hit _that_ spot inside her and she cried out again. She squeezed around my fingers, gripping tightly and her body froze as she came hard. Her eyes caught mine- and that's what sent me over the edge. Her eyes. The look in her blue eyes as she fell apart, and I was suddenly shaking, rutting against her thigh uncontrollably as my own release ripped through me.

We were moaning, panting into each other's mouths. She was holding me almost painfully tight. I was still driving my fingers into her, and her thigh came up to hook around mine securely as I continued to work her through her orgasm. Her tongue was in my mouth, stroking. She arched, and I slid down to wrap my arm under her lower back for leverage, never stopping my thrusts into her. I rested my forehead against the solid plane of her abs, my hair tickling over her stomach. Both her legs locked around my back as I pushed into her increasingly harder, wanting nothing more than to feel her come for me again.

I pressed my lips to her skin, letting my tongue slip out to trace the lines of definition.

"San- Santana- _trizat- gyaf- vistuch_-" she cursed loudly, breathlessly. At least, I think it was a curse. I couldn't tell if it was Galard or her own language. My lips quirked up into a dazed smile against her skin.

"Come on, Brittany-" I breathed. I pushed into her again and let my thumb move up to stroke over her, and she came with a loud cry of surprise, shaking violently beneath me. I held her securely, stroked her down gently, and when she collapsed in a sweaty, panting heap, I planted a soft kiss to her stomach and moved up to kiss the corner of her mouth.

She rested beneath me, breathing as if she'd just run a marathon, and I kissed her chin, her cheek, her nose, her forehead, calming her as she shivered and held onto me as if she couldn't ever let go.

"I love you," I breathed against her mouth before I kissed her lips.

She looked at me, her eyes clear blue and beautiful. "I know," she said shakily. She reached up and placed a trembling hand on the side of my face, her thumb stroking over my cheek. "I love you, too."

* * *

Basking in our hazy after-sex glow was awesome. It always was, but after really making love to Brittany for the first time, it was even better. I idly played with her fingers, my body tangled with hers, naked. She was warm, soft. I laid there for long moments, just breathing her in. I was totally content, totally at peace.

My body was humming with satisfaction, but despite the extremely late hour, I wasn't tired. I had, after all, slept late the day prior. And my mind wouldn't shut off. All of my previous thoughts from during the movie came rushing back to me now that Brittany and I were curled together in silence.

"Britt," I started hesitantly, trying to keep my tone light as I continued to toy with her fingers. She made a hum of acknowledgement and I swallowed. "Do you ever think about- after the war?"

"You mean, if I _survive_ it?"

"Yeah."

She was silent for a moment. I held my breath as I waited for her answer, afraid I'd breathe too loud and miss it. After a long while, in which I'm sure I probably might have suffocated if I'd _actually_ held my breath for the whole time, she spoke.

"Yes."

I waited to see if she was going to elaborate, and when she didn't, I inwardly huffed in annoyance. I waited all that time and she didn't even really give me any sort of explanation. I nuzzled my head against her a little closer.

"And- what do you think about?" My voice came out just above a whisper. My heart was pounding. I hadn't recognized that I was so anxious about her answer, but I guess it was kind of more than a _little_ important. I mean, we were talking about our future. If we _had_ a future.

"I've thought of many possible scenarios," Brittany admitted softly, honestly. I lifted my head from her shoulder to look into her eyes. I swallowed again. My mouth felt dry. We shared a gaze for a long moment.

Then I spoke again, in a tiny voice. "Do any of them include Earth?"

Her expression remained serious, but she nodded. "Some of them do."

"Oh." I laid my head back down on her shoulder while I thought about that. _Some_ of them? My heart sank. That meant she'd thought of the possibility of not staying with me. I guess it was kind of stupid to think that she'd want to remain human permanently. I mean, what if Andalites lived for hundreds of years or something? Why would she want to give that up? Why would she want to give the _universe_ up?

"All of them include _you_, Santana," she confessed lowly, her voice fragile. _Again_ it was as if she was reading my mind. "I- I can't picture any future _without_ you."

I looked at her again, our eyes locking once more. They were exposed-looking- vulnerable, even. Her cheeks were pink. She seemed to be hanging on my response. I smiled reassuringly at her and pressed a kiss to her mouth.

"All my futures include you, Brittany."

She seemed happy with my answer, and squeezed me briefly, pressing a kiss to my hair as I snuggled back into her shoulder. I went back to absently playing with her fingers as I continued the attempt to erase my insecurities. "Would you- become human? Or would you stay as you are and deal with the two-hour limit?" My heart twisted uncertainly. The two-hour limit _sucked_. I couldn't imagine putting up with it for the rest of my life with her, but if that's what she wanted, then I would do it. Because the alternative- not having her at _all_- was _not_ an option.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I can't imagine not being able to transform any more. But- if that's the price I have to pay to spend the rest of my life with you, Santana, I- I'd pay it _gladly_."

Fuck, why was Brittany so perfect? I was literally melting against her. She always knew the right thing to say, the right thing to make me fall even more in love with her. I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed her palm as she continued.

"I guess I'd be a clown. I really think I have a good chance of succeeding at it."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "A clown?" Of all things? Seriously? I tried to picture it. The image made me grin.

"Yeah, did you know there's a _school_ for clowns? And that it's an actual profession? Clowns bring laughter and happiness to others, and I think- I find that really appealing."

I smiled and kissed her palm again, laughing into it. "Brittany, whatever you want to do, I will support you."

"Really?"

I twisted to look up into her eyes, which were sparkling with adoration. "Really, really."

"I love you, Santana."

I laughed, my smile so wide my cheeks were starting to hurt. "I love you, too." We remained silent for a long moment, just staring at each other like two lovesick idiots, and then I giggled, and she finally asked,

"What is it?"

I averted my eyes to our hands, which were still entwined, the smile never leaving my face. "I'm just really happy."

She turned serious for a moment. "Were you worried?"

I nodded, taking a hesitant breath before I spilled my thoughts out in a rush. "A little. Brittany, you have every right to want to return to your own people after the war. I know they've been terrible to you, but they're still your people, and I don't want you to feel obligated to stay with me and be human if that's not what you want- I don't want you to have to give up something you love, or your dreams-"

"Santana, _you_ are what I love," Brittany said ardently. "And I could never do what I love as an Andalite, anyways- I have no choice, remember? I hate my job in the military, I hate the war." She paused to make eye contact with me before continuing. "And I've never been happier than when I'm with you."

"But you said only _some_ of your scenarios included Earth-"

"And did you not ever dream about exploring the universe together?" she asked sheepishly, a blush staining her cheeks. I was taken aback. Brittany thought about _travelling the stars_ with me? Oh my _God_, was I even still _breathing_? Why was she so _perfect_?

I surged forward and kissed her, and she kissed me back, smiling beneath my lips. I smiled, too, and soon we were giggling into each other's mouths, completely giddy. She reached up to tickle me and I shrieked, "No fair!" before we were wrestling, engaging in a very brief tickle war that neither of us really won.

We eventually collapsed into an exhausted, giggling heap, wrapped up in each other and completely infatuated. I'd be grossed out if I wasn't the one who was so smitten. But I was. Deal with it.

I snuggled in her arms for a moment, completely content, and another question popped into my brain.

"Britt- why do the Andalites fight the Yeerks, anyways? Like, are they really just that noble?"

Brittany sucked in a breath, and I felt her heart race for a moment beneath her chest, her body tensing. For a moment I thought I'd just ruined the mood, but then she released her breath and her body relaxed again. "We fight the Yeerks because we are burdened with guilt."

I scrunched my eyebrows up. Guilt? Guilt over _what_? I waited patiently for her to continue, letting my hand drift to her bare stomach and stroking lazy circles on it absently. When Brittany spoke again, she sounded as if she'd rehearsed her words. Maybe she had. Maybe she'd been preparing to tell me for a long time.

"Once, there was a great Andalite. His name was Seerow, and he was a Prince- a Warrior- a scientist. He was also the first Andalite to make contact with the Yeerks, on their home world. There are not many suitable hosts on the Yeerk planet because of the harsh environment, and Seerow-" Brittany faltered slightly in her story-telling, "he felt sorry for the Yeerks. He gave them- _technology_. He had the idea that they could travel the universe together, you see. But…" She stopped, and I processed everything she had said.

"Oh, wow," I said, completely shocked. "_Seerow_ gave the Yeerks technology? That means-"

"He built them a way to harness the rays of their home sun- Kandrona rays, their food source- into a mobile device, freeing them from the confines of their planet."

"And letting them loose on the rest of the universe," I finished sadly. "Wow. That sucks." I thought about it for a moment. Seerow felt sorry for the Yeerks- okay, I couldn't fault him on that. But couldn't he have like, I dunno, _done a background check_ before he went building them shit? I guess everyone had a lapse in judgment, though. I couldn't say we _Transformers_ had made perfect decisions a hundred percent of the time, either.

Then again, I didn't make the entire human race suffer for one mistake I made. I thought about how Brittany's life had been completely hijacked against her will and she had been forced into a war that she had nothing to do with. All of it was because of Seerow, because of his one great mistake. Her whole race suffered, fought, _died_ on a daily basis to right his one huge wrong. Talk about _sucks_.

"Do you hate him?" I asked.

"No- he only did what any decent, kind person would do," Brittany answered softly.

"Would _you_ have done it?"

"I already have," she said shyly. "We have a law- an important law- the law of Seerow's Kindness. And it states that we are not allowed to transfer technology or knowledge to other species."

"Willi broke that law," I pointed out. "He gave us the transforming power."

Brittany nodded, her cheeks turning pink. "And _I_ broke it the first time I answered any of your questions about me."

I let my gaze linger on her face, tracing over her features. She really _had_ broken that law- one of her people's most important laws- for me, hadn't she? She'd forsaken them for me. She'd basically disowned her own race for me, though I'd never asked her to. Not that her race was so wonderful and loving to begin with, but still. It made my heart swell with so much awe and love for her- that she could be brave enough to make a big decision like that, that she could love me enough to make a decision like that.

"I love you so much," I blurted. Brittany's cheeks grew pinker, but she smiled brilliantly at me, and somehow we ended up kissing again, and she was flipping me onto my back to bury her face into my neck, sighing happily. We held each other contentedly, and after a few moments listening to her steady breathing and the strong thump of her heart, I finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

An intense pounding startled me out of my dreams. The sound of Sugar's irritating voice ensured that I woke up pissed.

"_WAKE UP! I WANT TO HEAR EVERYTHING!"_

There was more pounding, and Brittany, in Andalite form, opened the door, revealing Sugar, dressed in some hot mess of an outfit, on the other side. I cringed at all the leopard print. She seriously needed a fashion consultant. Maybe Lady Lips would be up to the task, because there's no way I could put up with her long enough to-

"Where's the cube?" Sugar chirped, smiling.

I sat up in bed, then realized rather quickly that I was still naked. Sugar didn't even seem to notice as I pulled the sheets up to cover my chest and ran a hand through my hair, which I'm sure looked completely disheveled.

"The fuck, Sugar," I grumbled. I looked at the small clock next to the bed. It was like, 8:23am. I groaned. I had definitely only been sleeping for less than three hours. I switched my gaze to Brittany, who looked just as peeved at Sugar's presence as I was. The very tip of her tail twitched in irritation, and she shifted her weight. I caught her blue eyes, and her expression softened. Even as an Andalite, her eyes drew me in. They were deep and warm and familiar, and they sparkled in that way they did when she was smiling. I smiled dopily at her, feeling my cheeks heat up under her gaze.

"-for one _minute_? Ugh, you two are infuriating!" Sugar was saying in an exasperated tone. I suddenly remembered she was in the room with us, that she was talking to us, and that the world didn't revolve around Brittany's beautiful eyes.

Reluctantly, I snapped my eyes to Sugar, wincing as I was reminded of her horrible outfit once more, and blinked at her.

_"What_ do you want, again?"

She huffed, annoyed. "The cube, you miserable, love-stoned goober."

"Right. Uh. How about we have a meeting with everyone?"

"That doesn't sound reassuring."

I shrugged carelessly. "Does it ever?"

* * *

"Wait, so the Yeerks have the cube, but they can't _use_ it?" Sam clarified.

Brittany and I had just finished relating what happened the previous night to the rest of the group. The only one out of the others who didn't look utterly weary and miserable was Mercedes, though she did look a little sad. Sam had a tired, hollow expression on his face. Kurt listened silently, mostly staring off into space. Sugar looked like she was ready to explode with spectacular anger at any second. And I honestly couldn't even bring myself to care much about any of it. Despite my crankiness, and the fact that everyone around me seemed to always be on the verge of some type of mental breakdown brought on by crippling sadness, I was still buzzing with the after-effects of my night with Brittany. I was still filled with indescribable joy, and even with the depressing atmosphere, I couldn't help the feeling of optimism that bubbled inside me.

Brittany stood nearby, and I could almost feel her presence, like there was some sort of electrical current passing between us. She sent me shy, stealthy glances that made my heart skip a beat and made me grin like a fool. I was past even caring if anyone noticed. I know- _crazy_, right?

"No," I answered Sam. "Dafydd did something to it- he like- disabled it, or-" I looked at Brittany for help.

"He _suppressed_ it," Brittany said helpfully. "And since the _Escafil_ Device has been _entrusted_ to me by War-Prince Willi-Amschu-Ester, I am the only one who can awaken it."

"So what the hell does that mean?" Mercedes demanded, her eyebrow raised, a sassy expression on her face. I guess we weren't the only ones who'd been roused out of bed too early because of Sugar's madness.

"What does _what_ mean?" Brittany asked, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion. "Did I not explain something?" She looked at me for confirmation, and I smirked.

"I think they just don't know how the cube works, Britt."

"Oh!" Brittany smiled. "The _Escafil_ Device is used to transfer the transforming power from someone who has it to someone who does not. It does not contain the power itself." I watched everyone's faces as Brittany's information "clicked." Brittany continued, "Obviously, it is operated through touch. The technology in and of itself is still new, and how it functions is a closely-guarded secret. Because of that, there is a limited number of cubes assigned to each Andalite Dome Ship; one of these cubes was specifically given to War-Prince Willi because of the nature of our mission." Brittany's eyes darted to the side hesitantly, and I wondered if she was going to tell the others about her mission, since she had only confided in me. After a pause, when no one questioned her, she kept talking.

"Originally, when the technology was developed and the _Escafil_ Device was created, there were no restrictions on the transferring of the power. But as the war continued and we lost more and more species and ships to the Yeerks, the need for a safety mechanism arose. The process of _entrustment_ functions similarly to a password. The _Escafil_ Device can be used by anyone, but once the microbes present in the cube are _suppressed_, the Device will only respond to the Andalite the cube has been _entrusted_ to."

"And that's what Dafydd did," Sam reaffirmed.

"Yes," Brittany agreed.

"Okay," Sam said, letting his breath out slowly. "So the Yeerks definitely can't use it."

"But neither can _we_," Sugar spoke up impatiently, "because we don't _have_ it."

I rolled my eyes. "At least we know where it is. Kind of."

"Right- _not with us_. As usual."

"So here's an idea," Kurt said bitingly, speaking up for the first time, "why don't you find out? The Yeerks have it. You're a Yeerk. You have a better chance of figuring out where they are keeping it than we do."

Sugar looked shocked.

"Find the cube, then let us know, and we'll go get it," Mercedes agreed gently. "We will keep our promise to you, Sugar."

"You'd better," Sugar muttered as she turned away, presumably to follow Kurt's advice and find out where the Yeerks were keeping the cube. Surely they'd figured out by now that they couldn't use it. "It's a wonder why I even help you at all, seeing as how I have to do all the work myself, _anyways_…" She trailed off as she walked away and I couldn't hear anything more that she said. _Not_ a bad thing.

We stood in silence for a moment before Mercedes spoke again. "What about Noah?"

I averted my eyes, feeling my happiness deflate just a little. Puck was not a subject I wanted to really think about, but it had to be addressed. We had to do something about his captivity. We couldn't just forget about him, even though, as shitty as it was, it would be easier to do just that.

"If Santana saw him in the woods, that means we'll definitely run into him on the battle field at some point," Sam said thoughtfully, though his tone sounded sad. "But what do we do about it?"

"I guess we could do what we did when _you_ were infested," Mercedes suggested.

"No," Kurt said flatly. "Sam went with us willingly that time, because his Yeerk hoped that we didn't know Sam was infested. No way Puck's Yeerk will come with us willingly."

"We've either got to kidnap him, or somehow get the Yeerk to leave his body," Sam stated.

"So, what, all we have to do is beat Puck to within an inch of his life?" I said bitterly. Kurt shot me a stern glare and Sam shook his head disappointedly. I realized it probably wasn't the most tactful thing to say, but I was just keepin' it real. The only way Puck's Yeerk was going to leave was if Puck's body was hurt beyond repair- like Finn's. The thought made me shiver and swallow hard. As if sensing my uneasiness, Brittany moved closer and slid her hand into mine. The pressure of her hand calmed me.

"There's no easy solution," Mercedes stated, despondent. "We will just have to cross that bridge when we come to it and hope for the best."

So, Plan B it was.

* * *

We lazed around the rest of the morning. We couldn't make any further plans until Sugar came back with the information on where the Yeerks were keeping the blue cube, which was actually pretty fucking okay with me. Brittany and I attempted to cook eggs and toast together, which led to us playfully smearing jam on each other's faces, and, because we were distracted, burning the eggs. We were giggling while pouring ourselves some cereal when Sam wandered in.

"Hey, Sam," Brittany greeted cheerily, offering him a brilliant smile and holding up a piece of toast. "Want some?" Sam shook his head and returned her smile, but it didn't hold even half of the brightness it usually did. My heart beat painfully at the reminder that not everyone loved their current circumstances like I did. Sam was alone- his family had been completely ripped from him. And he was taking it really, really hard.

"It's weird not being in school today," I offered. Sam looked at me, the barest hint of a shine in his eyes.

"Yeah," he agreed. "It's weird thinking about never playing football again." He opened the door to the pantry and busied himself with looking inside. "Are there any Pop Tarts?"

"Dangerous," Brittany commented, taking a bite of her toast.

"Second shelf. I'm kind of glad I don't have Cheerios practice- those bitches were starting to piss me off. I'm just thankful I got out of there before Auntie Snixxx arrived on the Bitchtown Express." Sam laughed slightly and emerged from the cupboard, holding a box of the most boring flavor of Pop Tarts imaginable. He eyed the burnt eggs resting on the stove as he crossed to the toaster, and I felt sadness wash over me at how lost and miserable he looked. I stepped up beside him, leaning back on the counter as he opened a package of Pop Tarts.

"Hey," I said softly, placing my hand on his. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine, and I gulped. I wasn't really good at communicating my feelings, but I wanted Sam to know that he wasn't completely alone. That he still had me, and Mercedes, and the rest of us. And we weren't going to just abandon him. I told him that the best way I knew how. "It must get awfully lonely being the only fish-faced boy on the planet, but- I want you to know that I'm immune to the outrageous face-to-mouth ratio you have going on, and that, despite all odds, I actually enjoy your presence, though it's generally understood that I shouldn't, considering you're an absolute nerd."

Sam smiled a genuine smile. It only lasted a brief moment, but it was the first one I'd seen in days. "Thanks, Santana."

I nodded awkwardly. "Britts and I were going to watch a movie, and you're welcome to join us if you want… maybe we'll even watch _Avatar,_" I tempted.

Sam fought a smile as he shook his head a little, then dropped the Pop Tarts into the toaster, pressing down the handle. "I appreciate the offer, but I already have plans to hang out with Mercedes. She requested some board games from Sugar."

"Board games, huh?" I tried to keep my laugh in. "Sounds… awesome," I said enthusiastically. Sam rolled his eyes.

"It's okay, Santana- I know you don't think board games are fun, but Mercedes and I enjoy them, and that's all that matters."

"No, no- I'm sure you guys are going to play an absolutely _stirring_ round of Dungeons & Dragons," I teased. Then I turned serious, offering him an honest smile. "I'm glad."

He returned my smile, and we stood in silence for a moment until the toaster snapped us out of our separate thoughts when the Pop Tarts jumped up. I looked at Brittany, who was watching with fascination as Sam began to unsuccessfully dig the Pop Tarts out of the toaster with a knife.

"You ready?" I asked.

She nodded, and I moved to her side, taking her hand and leading her out of the kitchen.

"_Shit!"_ We heard Sam curse as we stepped out into the hall, and Brittany shook her head, amused.

"You were right, San. They _do_ get stuck."

* * *

"Wait, I'm so confused," Brittany said around a mouth of popcorn. "Why didn't Jack climb onto the door, too? It was big enough to support both of them."

"_Is there anyone alive out there?"_

I shrugged before I shoveled another handful of popcorn into my mouth. "Isn't that the question of the century."

"It just doesn't make sense."

"Welcome to every James Cameron movie ever."

It was later in the evening, and Brittany and I were back in the entertainment room. I had spent the day hanging around with Brittany and trying to keep her as distracted as possible from the fact that we were located so below ground. So far my efforts had been pretty successful. We'd taken separate showers, and even joined in on a very enthusiastic game of Scrabble with Sam, Mercedes, and Mercedes' parents, in which Brittany had adorably spelled almost every word wrong. She still didn't really know English, but she'd spent so much time speaking it and hearing it that she had picked up on the basics- at least enough to _try._ After such obvious excitement we had taken a nap, so of course that meant we weren't actually tired when it was time to sleep.

Which led us back to _Titanic_. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you see it) the marathon was still going, so we were able to tune in and catch the second half of the movie. Brittany, though a little concerned about the fake death of the fake people in the movie, watched mostly in detached fascination. I struggled to hold my tears in as Celine Dion belted out the words to the theme song in the end credits, wiping discreetly at my eyes. Brittany didn't seem to notice, though.

We watched a couple more shitty programs to kill some time, then retreated back to the room.

We were on the bed making out seconds later, and I tried hard to think about the passage of time. It was Monday, right? We had gotten our parents out Saturday night… No, wait, or was it Tuesday? I tried to concentrate, but Brittany had moved to kissing my neck and my thoughts were quickly going blank as her tongue darted out to tease me.

"Britt, when did my parents say they would be back? Did the note say?" I asked as Brittany's teeth grazed my pulse point.

"Not until next Tuesday," She breathed into my ear, the warmth of her breath sending a shiver down my spine. I tightened my arms around her and smiled, succumbing to her.

I decided it was probably Monday. I had plenty of time.

* * *

Sugar called us together the next day to give us the good news.

Wait, did I say good news? I meant good news for _her_. It was shitty fucking news for the rest of us.

"It's at Haverbrook Tower," Sugar told us, like we should know where that was.

I raised my hand. "Yeah, hi, I have a question- where the hell is that?" I snapped.

"It's in your old city," Sugar said with a roll of her eyes. "In downtown."

"Helpful," Mercedes muttered.

"Like _I_ know where the fuck it is?" Sugar demanded. "Like I live there? You can use Mapquest or something, since I brought you a laptop." She gave me a pointed look.

"Score," Brittany said. I grinned.

"Anyways, like I was saying, they are keeping it in that building, but it's under super lock and key. It'll be pretty impossible to get out with the cube, if you can even get in. In fact, you'll probably all die trying." She shrugged nonchalantly, as if the idea didn't bother her in the slightest. I realized with only slight horror that it probably didn't.

"That's reassuring," Kurt said, his voice slightly higher than normal.

"What else can you tell us about security?" Sam asked.

Sugar blinked.

"Well, we're all dead," I said, throwing up my hands in surrender. "Splenda here didn't bother to get any other information. Do you even _want_ the cube?"

"Of course I do! But there really isn't a whole lot of information to _get,"_ Sugar spat. "It's in a room that's kept in total darkness. All the floors, the walls, the ceiling- they're all pressurized. There's thin, super-sensitive wires crisscrossing the room that will set off an alarm from just the slightest _breeze_. And in the building there's at least two or three dozen Hork-Bajir, just chillin' and waiting to shred you."

"Oh, is that all," Mercedes said sarcastically.

"See? That wasn't so hard," I said in a fake, soothing voice. "Look at all the information you just gave us."

Sam looked distraught, and I took a second to process why, and then realized what Sugar had just described to us.

An impenetrable room. Guarded by _three dozen_ Hork-Bajir. How the fuck were we going to even get _in_?

* * *

We spent the next couple of hours planning, speculating, figuring shit out. We decided that we could probably sneak in as flies through an air conditioning vent or something equally as glamorous; it was the sneaking out _with the cube_ that was the problem. A fly couldn't carry the cube.

"Looks like Smash & Dash," I said with only half my normal enthusiasm. Why couldn't any of our plans ever _not_ end in a grueling, exhausting fight?

With the aid of the new laptop Sugar had bestowed on us, and a pretty secure internet connection that Brittany encrypted (seriously- my girl is so _smart_) we looked up all the information we could on Haverbrook Tower, but there really wasn't much to discover.

We would have to wing it, as usual.

After several hours we had finally come up with a reasonable plan that didn't involve us getting sliced into _Transformers Julienne, _but there was also the added factor of Puck.

"Think Visser Seven will show up?" Sam asked Sugar after we had cemented the plan, reaching his quota of going over it no less than one billion times.

"That depends- are you going to fuck up and trigger an alarm? Or are you actually going to _succeed_ in getting the cube?" Sugar paused. "Sorry, Asperger's."

I rolled my eyes.

"What are Ass Burgers?" Brittany asked. "Do humans _eat_ those?"

Her face twisted into disgust, and we all laughed. It was only to hide the fact that we were extremely, _extremely_ nervous.

Because, as we had learned time and time again, _nothing_ is unsinkable.

* * *

**Wow, didn't realize how much of this chapter was composed entirely of sex. **

**Sorry, not sorry. **

**LOL, hope that's not a bad thing. (It was important to the story, right? ;)**

**Well, hope you enjoyed the slight fluff that was this chapter. As you can probably tell, there's a huge mission coming- will they run into Puck again? Or Finn? I have something pretty awesome planned, so I hope to see you for the next chapter!**

**Also, enjoy the five seconds of Brittana we will get this week on _Glee-_ because Brittana is ALWAYS on! LOL. **

**Have a great week! Review if you feel up to it, but if not, oh well. See you Monday, pals. :D**


	18. Haunted

**OKAY OKAY I KNOW I'M SORRY I'M LATE.**

**I just had so many Brittana feels this week and then I got dragged out of town again and family/Thanksgiving and BRITTANA FOREVER and just HERE HAVE A CHAPTER ALL RIGHT.**

**I'M SORRY.**

**(thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed and/or favorited last chapter, gnarly dudes!)**

**Happy reading... :B**

* * *

I walk cautiously down the hallway of my school, heading towards my locker.

It's completely empty, which is unusual- there should be kids at this hour, right? But then, if there's kids, then I shouldn't be here- I can't afford to show my face in public. The Yeerks will be on me before I even realize I'm _in_ public, and I have too much to protect. I can't become a slave to the Yeerks, I _can't_.

I continue to walk carefully and quietly down the deserted hallways, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of life. But the more I walk, the more I realize that I'm completely alone.

Mechanically, I head to the locker room. Maybe it's just early. Maybe people haven't arrived yet. Maybe Cheerios practice is happening. I don't miss it, but…

I enter the locker room and find it just as vacant as the rest of the school.

"This is so weird," I mutter. My voice echoes in the emptiness of the room. A noise behind me startles me and I turn to it, my heart racing. Huge lips fill my vision.

"Sam!" I exclaim, placing a hand to my chest in surprise. He is honestly the last person I expect to be here, especially in the girls' locker room.

Only.

We're not in the girls' locker room anymore. We're standing on the football field. It's dark out, and the stadium lights are on, but the field is deserted. What?

"What's going on, Trouty?" I ask, trying to keep the note of fear out of my voice. Shit is seriously weird. I thought for sure I was just standing in the girls' locker room.

"I trusted you," Sam says, ashamed. He turns his eyes away from me.

"What?" I ask again, confused. What is Sam talking about?

"I trusted you- to get my parents out, I trusted you."

"What?" I repeat, growing panicked. Something's not right. Why does Sam think I'm responsible for his parents? "That was Mercedes! I had nothing to do with that. I was with you the whole time, remember, we were fighting-" I can't say it. _His_ name. I squeeze my eyes closed. When I open them, Sam is gone.

In his place stands Kurt. He looks angry. I just look confused.

"You don't care," Kurt accuses. "You haven't given up anything."

"I have," I argue, but Kurt continues.

"You killed my brother!"

"He's not dead, you ass!" I say. He's not, right? He's not. He's alive. _Alive_. "I didn't kill him. He's _alive_-"

But Kurt changes, he changes into Puck.

Puck stares at me, his eyes sorrowful. "Why did you leave me to die?" He asks. Sad. Not angry, just sad. My heart hurts. Why is everyone ganging up on me? Why is it all my fault? I didn't mean for any of that to happen, not really-

"Noah, I didn't- You _told_ me to! I _had_ to!" I explain, growing angry, but desperate to make him understand. It wasn't me, _it wasn't me_.

"_You_ left him to die," Mercedes says miserably, stepping out of nowhere. I turn to her, my heart hurting worse. The words are hard to accept coming from Mercedes, of all people. She never judges me. I start to say something, but both her and Puck disappear.

_[To _die_,]_ Brittany repeats, and I turn wildly to search for her.

No, no, no. Not Brittany, too.

No.

My eyes finally find hers, but they are cold and empty. The blue in them is so dark it's almost black. It sends a chill down my spine._ [Why would I ever want to stay on Earth with you? Why would I want to be with you?]_

"Brittany!" I say, my mouth barely working.

_[You're awful.]_

Her words blow through me, having an almost physical effect. I feel my knees giving out, and I sink to the ground, my chest aching. And suddenly I realize I'm kneeling in the old, abandoned construction site- where it all began so many nights ago.

"Brittany," I plead, but she turns away.

_[You don't deserve me.]_

"Please, don't- "

She fades away into the darkness.

"Brittany!" I cry, but she's gone.

I sit for a moment, feeling completely devastated, shaking my head. Brittany, _gone_? This can't be real. It has to be a dream. It has to be.

A fly buzzes by my head, and I watch it suspiciously. A fly?

It lands on the ground before me, and slowly begins to change.

Seconds later, Sebastian is standing before me, wearing that arrogant smirk that always drove me quickly to anger. I'm not even relieved to see him. I'm still reeling from the most recent blows- Sam, Kurt, _Brittany_-

"How does it feel to have no one?"

I shake my head, wipe at my eyes. My hands come away wet. Am I crying? I can't even tell; my chest just feels like an empty cavern. If this is a dream, it's a really, really convincing one.

"How does it feel to be completely alone?"

"I don't-" I start, my voice coming out shaky, watery. My tears keep falling, my chest _hurts_. I want to ignore him- he's just a dream, after all- but my dream self doesn't know I'm dreaming, and the emotions, the guilt he is stirring, all of that is _real_.

"You think you can play God? You can't."

I take a shuddering breath. "I'm not- I don't think that-" I can't even speak. I can't even form a coherent thought. Sebastian is burdening me with this _now_? I'm a mess, I've never felt so low in my life. Talk about kicking someone when they're down.

"I only wanted to save my parents. You would have done the same."

I wipe at my eyes again, trying to grasp what he's saying. Something's not quite right with his statement. As much as I love my parents, I would never betray the others to save them. I'm smart enough to know that there's no making deals with the Yeerks. That my best chance of saving my parents is to stick with the _Transformers_. I _know_ that. And yet-

"No, I _wouldn't_ have- I didn't!"

Sebastian glares at me, challenging. "What would you do to save your parents, Santana?"

"I don't know." I shake my head. I haven't thought about it. I haven't _had_ to. "I don't know!"

"Would you kill me?"

"I- no! Maybe- I don't-"

Finn steps into view, his expression blank. "What about me? Would you kill me?"

"Why are you asking me this? It doesn't matter! My parents are safe! They're _safe_!"

Sebastian grins cruelly. My heart thuds uselessly in my chest. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!"

They both look at each other briefly. Then Sebastian smiles his evil, arrogant smile. Finn smiles, too, only when he does, blood pours from his mouth and down his chin, reminding me of the last time I saw him. It rattles me- I hadn't expected-

"Your parents aren't safe, Santana. No one is," Sebastian says seriously, but it sounds more like a threat.

"That's not true!"

"No one is."

The ground beneath me starts to give way. Is this seriously happening right now? I panic as a hole forms in the ground in front of me. Sebastian and Finn fade away, but I can still hear their voices.

"No!" I scream in terror as the hole gets bigger. I try to find purchase but there's nothing, _nothing_ to grab on to, and I slide into the blackness.

"_No one is._"

* * *

"AAAAAAHHHH!" I screamed as my eyes snapped open. I sat up quickly, tangled in the sheets. Brittany was already on me, her arms around me, cupping my face and stroking my hair.

"Shh, shh," she said soothingly, tightening her arms around me. I clutched her shirt, gasping for breath. My whole body was shaking. I had a thin sheen of sweat covering me.

A dream. It _was_ a dream.

But-

The feeling of overwhelming sadness hadn't left me, and without warning, a sob ripped its way out of my chest.

Brittany shifted us so that she was sitting up against the wall and I was cradled in her lap. She pressed comforting kisses to my forehead, stroking her fingers through my hair to calm me. She murmured reassuring things against my temple, and rubbed my back gently.

I cried for a long time, burying my face into her neck and never letting go of my tight grip on her shirt. She didn't understand my incoherent babbling, but she held me while I fell apart against her. I sobbed, the ache in my chest only lessening slightly when I had finally cried myself out. I settled down against Brittany and let her hands calm my body, but nothing could calm the turmoil in my brain.

It had been a week.

He was dead. He _had_ to be.

It had been a _week_- a week since we had left Sebastian in that canister. I had tried not to think about it; tried to block out what had happened, what we'd done. It was easier than dealing with the guilt. We all had so many other things to focus on, and it seemed like every mission, things just got worse. Sebastian- Puck- Finn- all because I _failed_.

I failed to help Sebastian through his crisis. It wasn't my responsibility, wasn't my fault- but with the exception of Kurt, we had all turned away, all couldn't be bothered to be supportive of Sebastian. The kid had no one- he had lost his parents, lost everything- and maybe it wouldn't even have helped, but none of us even _tried_. If we had talked to him, had helped him through the transition- would he have still betrayed us in the end?

Questions I would never know the answers to.

I had failed Puck when I'd left him to be infested. But he had told me to leave, trusting that we would find a way to get him back. And we had to. It wasn't too late for him- I could still save him, and I would. Even if the cost was my own life, I would get Puck back. Because he had faith in me to do that. And I couldn't let him down.

Finn… I cared not one fuck for his life. The only value it held was because it affected Kurt. But because it did hold some value, it was still hard to face the fact that I had practically killed him. _Practically_, because he wasn't dead. In fact, he was probably brand new, and we would meet on the battlefield and I'd get the chance to kill him all over again. Despite my hatred for him, though, his face still literally haunted my dreams. I shivered.

Brittany's arms tightened around me, and she kissed my temple. I buried my face further into her neck, inhaling her scent and focusing on the feeling of her arms around me. I felt so selfish- we had one of the biggest missions of our lives the next night, and I was keeping both of us awake because I had a nightmare.

I felt tears springing to my eyes again, remembering the Brittany from my dream. Nothing I had ever experienced had hurt that bad. Thinking about it brought the feelings crashing over me again, and I suddenly felt nauseous, like my insides were being ripped out. My heart was pounding, but painfully so, like each beat hurt it. My throat was tightening up, and my mouth was dry. I swallowed a few times to try and make the feeling go away, and after a few moments I calmed slightly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Brittany asked in a tender whisper.

I shook my head against her.

No.

I never wanted to talk about it. I never even wanted to think about it again, but I knew this wasn't the last time I'd be plagued with the memories, with the guilt. This war had changed me- had changed all of us. I knew Sam, Mercedes, Kurt- they all had their own guilt and memories to haunt them. Even Puck-

I clenched my eyes closed.

Brittany's fingers traced softly along my jaw. "Okay, Santana. I'm here if you change your mind."

I kissed Brittany's neck in gratitude.

And tried not to wonder about how much more guilt, how many more memories, haunted her, too.

* * *

"Thanks for doing this," I told Burt and Diana, Mercedes' mom.

"Anytime, sweetheart," Diana told me gently. "It helps to hear it from an adult."

"Just call us when you're ready," Burt added. "We'll be right outside the room."

I nodded and took a deep breath.

It was time to tell my parents.

I'd been putting it off for as long as I could, but now- with the uncertainty of the huge mission we were about to embark on- I was forced to tell them. So they would be safe. In case I didn't make it out alive-

No. I couldn't think that- I had to survive. I had to convince myself that I was going to make it through our next mission, however impossible it seemed.

I signed into Skype. I had sent my parents an email earlier in the morning, asking if they could spare some time to chat. So around 1:30pm I sat chewing my lip nervously in front of the laptop, waiting and trying to figure out how to tell my parents what was going on.

Brittany was beside me in her natural form, though not close enough to be seen on the webcam. She was there for evidence purposes- and of course, to support me. Both my parents were highly logical, scientific people- it's where I got my no-bullshit attitude- so convincing them was going to take some doing. And Skype wasn't exactly the best medium to do that, either.

At 1:47pm, the laptop dinged, indicating my parents had signed on. I held my breath and started the call, and within moments, my parents' smiling faces appeared on the screen.

"Santana!" My father said, grinning widely. He greeted me in Spanish, and I tried not to feel a little embarrassed with Brittany listening in intently. She had never met my parents, nor had she heard me interact with them. I'm not even sure she knew that I spoke Spanish, to be honest.

I chatted with them for a brief moment before I turned serious. "Mami, Papi, I have something important to tell you," I said.

"What is it, Mija?" My mother said soothingly.

"I just- I'm not sure how to tell you-"

"Is this about you liking women?" My father piped up, smiling. "Because honestly, Santana, we've known about that for _quite_ a while-"

I felt my cheeks heating up as I replied, "_No_, Papi-"

"Oh no!" My mother said suddenly. "Did that Roz lady kick you off the Cheerios? I swear, if I hear about her bullying you one more time, that school is going to find itself with a lawsuit so big-"

"[Please, can you listen, both of you?]" I pleaded in Spanish. I really didn't have buckets of time to explain to them. I had to start preparing for the mission soon. They grew serious as they said,

"Of course."

I took a deep breath.

And then I told them everything.

I told them about that night at the construction site. About Willi. About the Yeerks.

About Brittany.

I didn't tell them that I was in love with her- I didn't want to overwhelm them. After all, I'm sure most parents wouldn't automatically be thrilled about learning their daughter was involved with an alien, especially having just found out the _existence_ of aliens not two minutes prior. Baby steps, you know? But I let them see her. And half-hoped that they saw the love in my eyes when I looked at her, so that I wouldn't _have_ to explain it to them. But if they noticed, they didn't acknowledge it.

I told them about the transforming power. I told them about Puck. They listened silently, but I could see the disbelief in their eyes. They weren't entirely convinced.

So with another deep breath, I closed my eyes and focused on the cheetah.

I felt the changes taking place, and when I opened my eyes again, my parents were staring, wide-eyed, at me. I took a few steps, to show that I was actually in the room, that I was real.

My mom was the first to break the silence. "Oh, Santana, honey! That's great! Do a dog!"

I blinked, huffing in annoyance. I began the transformation back to human, and once I had my speech capabilities back, I said, "No, Mami- it doesn't work like that-"

"You must show us how you did that trick, Santana!" My father said, enthused and fascinated. "Imagine the jokes I could play on my coworkers at the hospital!"

My mother nodded. "It is a very convincing trick."

"It's not a trick, Maribel," Diana said gently, coming to stand next to me. Burt moved to stand beside her. I sighed with relief, remembering why I had asked them to help in the first place. Hearing it from adults, that had lived through it and _accepted_ it, would bring the reality home better than my explanation. "It's real. What Santana says is the truth."

"[Santana, you got other adults to participate in this scheme?]" My father said disapprovingly. He always slipped into Spanish when he was angry or emotional. It was his first language, after all. He shook his head.

"No. It's _real_," I said firmly. "You have to believe me-"

"Say that we _did_, Santana. How does this affect us?"

I looked at them incredulously. Were they seriously trivializing this? "You could be _infested_!" I said angrily. "Did you not understand my earlier explanation?"

"[Don't get that tone with us, Santana,]" My father scolded.

"This is just really hard for us to process," My mother said with a nod.

"I understand that," I said slowly, trying not to let my anger take over. "But this is really serious, and I would really appreciate it if you treated it as such."

"Okay, okay," My father said, relenting. "Then what it is you would have us do?"

"Just-" I hesitated. This was the part I was dreading, "promise me you will stay out of the country until I tell you that you can come back."

The uproar started. My parents scoffed, laughed, argued with each other disbelievingly in Spanish. I waited until they addressed me with their answer, knowing I was going to have to have another plan of attack.

"Santana, you're asking for a lot-" My mother started gently.

"Please," I pleaded.

"Honey-"

Burt cut in, his tone completely firm as he spoke to my father. "With all due respect- this is not a joke, Diego. I lost my _wife_ to these monsters. My son, Kurt? He lost his step-brother, Finn. And Sam- well, he lost his _parents_. I'm sure Santana doesn't want that to happen to you, also, which is why she's trying so hard here. And if _you_ don't want to be next, I suggest you _find_ a way to stay in Sweden until this whole mess has been dealt with."

My parents were silent for a long moment, their expressions somber as they processed everything. I held my breath as my father finally spoke. "And how long will that be?"

"It's an indefinite amount of time right now," I said softly. "But trust me, Papi- we're doing all we can."

"And what are _we_ supposed to do in Sweden?" My mother asked hopelessly. It was finally sinking in for her. I felt my heart cracking, but I knew that this was the only way I could keep them safe. That, or bring them to live in the zombie shelter with us- and that would be a whole different nightmare.

"I don't know- you have savings, right? Backpack across Europe or something, have the time of your lives. Just, please, don't return here."

Silence.

I gulped. "[Please, say something.]"

My father shrugged despondently. "[There's not much to say, sweetheart. It's a lot to think about- a lot to do. We must make- preparations.]"

I nodded. "I- I have to go now. I've got-" A bitter taste entered my mouth. No. I didn't want them to know. I didn't want them to know I might be going off to die. "I've got something important to do."

They nodded, still looking forlorn. I felt awful, blindsiding them like that, but would it have been worse for them to return, blissfully unaware? To be snatched by the Yeerks on their own doorstep? To be dragged, screaming, to the Pool, their heads shoved underwater? To experience the horror of a Yeerk squirming its way into their ears, wrapping itself around their brains and taking total control of their bodies?

And then discovering my death that way?

I shook my head and, steeling myself, looked into their eyes through the screen. "[I- I love you.]"

"[We love you, too, Santana.]"

I ended the call. I sat in silence for a moment. Brittany, once again human, sat beside me and rubbed soothing circles on my shoulder.

* * *

The rest of the day flew by. I didn't really notice the passage of time. My thoughts were tangled, caught up in a broad range of different subjects and conflicting feelings. My dream was still weighing heavily on my consciousness, bringing my formerly buried guilt and insecurities to the surface. I was still reeling from the conversation with my parents. And then, on top of everything, I was worried about the extremely difficult mission we were about to partake in later that night.

There was a very good chance that my conversation with my parents had been my last.

And Puck…

We were sure to run into him at the Haverbrook. We had a plan- albeit, a sucky one, as all our plans seemed to be- but it was at least something we could work with to get him out. But there was always a chance- again, a pretty big chance- that it would fail, and we would fail, and Puck would remain a slave.

And it was that feeling that led me to gather Brittany and Esther, Puck's younger sister, in the entertainment room to watch _Tarzan_. Esther had cited it as her favorite, and I thought the premise was something Brittany could certainly relate to, and okay, I didn't exactly hate the movie, either.

Esther was at that tender age where she was suspicious of everything and asked a lot of questions, but was still generally accepting of the answers. So when Brittany curled into my side, she gave us a funny look, and asked us some questions- mostly about Brittany being an alien- but at my straightforward tone and the fact that we were both so nonchalant about it, she shrugged and tuned into the movie.

She and Brittany got along great; Esther would make comments about the movie and Brittany would chime in with her opinion and the two together made me roll my eyes with a big, dopey smile on my face, and a totally unfamiliar, warm _family_ feeling in my heart. Brittany held my hand securely the entire movie as I snuggled into her side, resting my head on her shoulder. I let my thoughts wander to Puck's family, not for the first time. Neither of them knew what had happened to Puck. Deborah, Puck's mom, hadn't asked. I think she was afraid to know the answer. She knew about the war, and the Yeerks, and the transforming power, and Brittany. But I didn't know exactly what Mercedes had told her in regards to Puck. And I'm sure Esther knew even less about the whereabouts of her brother.

When the movie was over, Esther stood up and looked at me. Her dark brown eyes were full of gratitude as she said, "Thanks for spending time with me." She looked at Brittany. "I think you're better at being a human than Tarzan is."

Brittany beamed. "Thanks! I had a much better teacher than he did." I smiled.

Esther turned to me. "I miss Noah. But- I guess you were a good substitute, for now. When's he going to meet us?"

I swallowed thickly, blinking away tears that came out of nowhere. Stupid dream. Stupid emotions. _Stupid_. "Soon."

Esther seemed like she didn't believe me, but she nodded her head. "I hope so." Then she offered me a smile. "We should hang out again soon."

I returned her smile, though I feared it wasn't nearly as genuine. "We definitely will, Es."

_If I survive._

* * *

"Don't worry, I'm tapped in to the silent alarm network," a girl that I likened to a rhino said. Her name was Laura or Linda or something. She was one of Sugar's minions, and she had driven us, in a van that looked like it was straight out of _To Catch a Predator_, from the Sugar Shack to a sketchy-as-fuck alleyway a few blocks away from the Haverbrook Tower.

We had all spent the ride over in glum silence, except for Lauren, who'd jammed out to _The Final Countdown_ on repeat with a gleeful expression on her face.

A Yeerk with a sense of humor.

I had clutched Brittany's hand tightly as we rode along, and I tuned out everything. We all sat, stewing in our own thoughts of mortality. Probably Sam was running through the plan again in his mind. He was holding Mercedes' hand. Mercedes had her eyes closed, and seemed to be muttering a prayer. Kurt just stared blankly out the window. Brittany sat hunched forward, analyzing the floor of the van.

When we'd finally halted at the creepy alley, Lauren had reassured us that she'd swing by with the Pedo-Van to scoop us back up when we triggered the alarm. Then she laughed hysterically, drumming her hands on the steering wheel, before peeling away, the tires screeching and the van nearly tilting onto just two tires as she turned a corner.

It wasn't actually reassuring.

We transformed to our various bird forms and flew to Haverbrook Tower, ending up on the roof. Sugar had given us basic instructions on how to get down into the room that held the blue cube, and then how to get out of the building from that room, although I was really a lot less concerned about getting out because I was pretty sure we'd all be dead before we had to worry about that part.

Call me a pessimist.

Once on the roof of the tower, we quickly located the air vent that was connected to the A/C unit. It seemed like a normal vent- no barbed wire or electric fences or whatever else I expected to find around a vent in a tower that was under Yeerk control. But I don't know if that eased my worry or made it worse. At least if there had been defenses I would've known what to expect. Now I was even more on guard.

"Looks- pretty normal," Sam said, his voice laced with equal parts hope and caution.

I eyed the vent warily. "Maybe it has, like, Yeerk-grade bug spray or something all over it."

"Yeah, but we won't know that until we're bugs," Kurt stated.

"And dead," Mercedes added flatly.

I sighed. "I guess we have to just risk it. We agreed on flies, right?"

"Yeah. Especially since we have to travel down the vent. I don't want to risk ending up as a smear three stories down if there's a super steep drop," Sam said.

"Gotta love Sugar and her super helpful information," Kurt muttered.

Sam shrugged. "It's better than nothing."

"Okay, let's do this," I said. I took a deep breath and focused on the ladybug DNA inside me.

Once I was fully ladybug, I made my way over to the vent, communicating with Sam and the others. They were all flies except for Brittany, who was some sort of tiny flying beetle I had never seen before. It couldn't hurt to have several different insect types. (If there _was_ bug spray, _one_ of us was bound to notice it, right?) Once I landed on one of the grates in the vent, I carefully crept through the open space, half-expecting to be zapped instantly. But no, there was nothing to stop me as I meandered my way down into the darkness.

_[Keep dropping down,]_ Sam called from way below me_. [It goes down for a while but not too much. I think it stops around the 9__th__ floor.]_

Great. The cube was on the 4th floor. Which means we had to either navigate the vent system down to the 4th floor, or get out and sneak down as ourselves. Considering we were floating along in the dark without any fucking clue about where we were going, the less time we spent doing that, in my opinion, the better.

Sam was in the lead, and he called out directions to the rest of us. I followed them blindly, lost in my own thoughts, and not really paying much attention to where it was we were going. I could sense the others' movements, even though I couldn't see them in the darkness. It made me feel less alone. I silently wondered how Brittany was doing, trapped in such a confined, dark space as a tiny beetle.

_[Britt, are you all right?]_ I asked softly.

_[I'm not particularly enjoying this journey,]_ she confessed, her thought-speak voice sounding way stressed the fuck out. I felt bad for her, but I knew the best thing I could do to take her mind off of the tight spot we were in was to keep talking to her.

_[Well once we reach a good place, I'm sure we'll get out. How much time do we have left, anyways?]_

_[One hour and thirty-nine minutes,]_ she answered.

Yeah, we really hadn't gone that far at all.

_[Okay, at this next opening, take a left, and follow the path down-]_

_[Sam,]_ I called. _[As much as I just loooove flying around in the dark all _Mission: Impossible_, is there any way we could possibly get out of this air vent? It would totally be faster if we could just take the stairs.]_

_[Santana, if we do that, we run the risk of getting caught, and then we could end up dead-]_

_[Sam, no offense, but I would rather be dead than spend another stinking minute in this vent as a fly,]_ Kurt confessed.

_[Word,]_ Mercedes agreed.

Sam huffed. He seemed mildly offended. _[Seriously, guys? We haven't even been flies for an hour!]_

Wait- did he LIKE flying around in the dark leading us through air vents?

_[And I'd really like to keep it that way,]_ Kurt affirmed. _[There's just something about being a fly that really-]_

_[Creeps us the fuck out,] _Mercedes finished.

Sam sighed. I was kind of pleased. I hadn't even really had to argue Brittany's case- Kurt and Mercedes pretty much took care of that for me. Awesome.

_[Okay. When we get down to the 7__th__ floor we will exit the vent.]_

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief and followed Sam.

* * *

After a few more twists, turns, and drops, we came upon an opening in the venting tunnel- a passage that actually led to a room, go figure. There was a small amount of light coming from the other side of a vent, which lit the inside of the metal tunnel we were in and drew us to the slots of the vent in eagerness.

_[Wait,] _Sam said cautiously_. [There might be people in the room. We don't want to alert anyone to our presence. Which means-]_

_[I should go first,]_ Brittany finished. I kept in my vote of protest because I knew she was right- she was the only one that was more dangerous in her natural form. And I'm sure her volunteering to go first had absolutely nothing to do with her claustrophobia, either. She powered her beetle wings and dropped down into the room, and I held my figurative breath.

We waited for a few minutes and then Brittany announced it was clear.

_[No one was in the room?]_ Sam asked.

_[There was a human, but he's unconscious now,]_ Brittany said nonchalantly. I laughed nervously and followed the others out through the grate and down to the plush, carpeted floor.

Once we were all human and standing in the room, we looked around. There was, in fact, a human lying face down on the carpet not far from where Brittany was standing. The room itself looked to be some kind of office. There was a desk, with a lamp that was still on, which explained where the light had come from.

"This is not really what I was expecting," Mercedes admitted in a soft whisper.

"Me, either. What does this place even do?" Kurt asked.

I shrugged. "There wasn't really any information on the website. I guess it's like… an office space?"

"Except for the 4th floor, which is really an impenetrable fortress?" Kurt asked suspiciously. "That makes so much sense."

"Hey, I didn't build it. I don't know."

"I guess we'll find out," Mercedes sighed. She looked at Sam. "How are we doing this?"

Sam shrugged. "My plan was the air vents, but you guys obviously didn't like that one."

"Yeah, because it sucked," I muttered.

"We can't walk around like this," Kurt said, gesturing to himself. "So the question is, do we go big or small?"

"Small would be less noticeable, but it would also take longer to find the room," Mercedes said thoughtfully. "And if we were recognized by anyone, we wouldn't really be able to defend ourselves."

"Who's going to _recognize_ a mouse and a bunch of lizards?" I snapped.

"The Yeerks," Kurt answered flatly. "They'll be on the lookout for any animal. Does that mean we go full out?"

"Maybe we should do half and half," Sam suggested. "Half of us can scamper ahead-"

"_Scamper_?"

"-and tell us what they find, and then a few of us can be in avatar mode, ready to go in case shit hits the fan."

"Or we can all just power our way to that room," I said. "If we take out everyone we come across on the way there, that's less people to stop us from getting out when we are ready to leave. Plus we'll kind of know the layout a little."

"Yeah but we want to remain undetected as long as possible," Mercedes pointed out. "I say we go with the Half Plan."

"I don't really have a creepy form-" Kurt started.

"Oh, but you _do_- you're in it _right now_," I said with a sweet smile.

"-so I will go avatar, I guess."

"Kurt- an alligator is anything but subtle," I told him. "And you do so have a creepy form. Remember that beetle you were when we went to _Scandals_?"

"Okay, I was trying to avoid being a bug again," Kurt started, annoyed.

"Of course."

"But I wasn't going to go alligator. I have another form I was planning on using, actually."

I shrugged. "Well,_ I'll_ go mouse. Sam? You with me on this one?"

He smiled his big guppy-mouthed smile at me. "Of course."

I nodded. "Okay then. Looks like we have our creepers."

* * *

Five minutes later, I was in mouse form, _scampering_ down the carpeted hallway and looking for the door that led to the stairs. Sam, as a lizard, moved beside me, and together we perused the various rooms and hallways of the 7th floor. There were three instances where we encountered other people. Twice they were humans- whether Controllers or not, I didn't really find out because we didn't give them a chance to do anything other than crumple to the ground once the flat of Brittany's tailblade hit them on the head. The third time it was a Hork-Bajir, and he tried to put up a fight but again, Brittany managed to disable him long before he could even get himself (or _her_self, who the fuck knows how to tell the difference in Hork-Bajir sexes) oriented enough to follow through. I tried not to explode with pride at how badass Brittany was, as usual.

We reached the stairwell without too much difficulty, and once there, Brittany scooped me up carefully into her hand. _[I'll carry you,]_ she said sweetly.

I'm pretty sure my mouse form grinned like an idiot.

We quickly travelled down the three flights of stairs. I just kind of kicked back in Brittany's warm palm and enjoyed the ride, and tried not to think about what we were going to encounter once we reached the 4th floor. Brittany set me down when we got to the door that was clearly and helpfully marked with the number four in both English and what I assumed was the written form of Galard. It was nice that they put that giant glowing clue up that there were Yeerks involved there.

As if the Hork-Bajir on the 7th floor hadn't given that away.

Brittany opened the door and I carefully moved past it. The hall was mostly dark with only some randomly placed wall sconces. I rolled my mouse eyes.

_[Well, this is welcoming,]_ I said as I moved down the hall.

_[Totally. Sconces? Give me a break,]_ Sam said beside me.

_[Where did Sugar say The Room was located?]_

_[Oh, so- funny story? She didn't.]_

_[Awesome. So we're just going to wander around and hope we stumble upon it?]_

_[Yeah, pretty much. It's what we always do, right?]_

_[I just thought, you know- pretty important mission, maybe-]_

_[You worry too much.]_

_[Totally don't.]_

We stood in the hallway and bickered for a few more minutes before Mercedes spoke.

_[Hey guys? I think we found it.]_

_[What? How? And what the hell, I thought _we_ were supposed to be like, the scouts or whatever-]_

_[Yeah, but you wouldn't shut up, so we just decided to go on ahead,]_ Kurt grumbled. _[And I definitely think we found it.]_

_[How can you tell?]_ Sam asked, sounding just as annoyed as I felt.

_[Because there's, like, six Hork-Bajir standing over there and- oh. Shit. I think they just noticed our little freak show.]_

I froze. Uh-oh. Six Hork-Bajir against Brittany, Mercedes, and Kurt? That was two to one odds. Damn, when did I get so good at math?

The sound of roaring scared the shit out of my mouse brain and I lost control of the form for a moment as panic flooded me. I scurried quickly to a tiny space in the nearest doorframe.

_Run! Run! Run!_

_Get a grip_, I told myself. _Brittany needs you._

Brittany. Right.

_[Sam, should we-]_

_[Yes,]_ he said tensely, already beginning his transformation. I focused hard on my own form and within minutes I was human and standing, barefoot, in the dimly-lit hallway.

"This is such nice carpet," I commented to myself as the sounds of the nearby fight reached my ears. I looked over and watched Mercedes the Bear bring her giant sledgehammer of a paw down on one of the Hork-Bajir's heads, and the Hork-Bajir joined three others on the ground. I couldn't see Kurt- he was around the corner. But Brittany downed the fourth Hork-Bajir, earning only a shallow nick to her shoulder. It still pissed me off, though.

I was about to focus on the cheetah, but as Brittany whipped her tail forward with a loud crack and took out the last Hork-Bajir standing (I guess Kurt had the sixth one with him around the corner) I realized there was really no need. We had found The Room, and Brittany, with the very _lame_ assist of Mercedes and Kurt, had taken out the immediate guards.

Sam, who had been halfway to gorilla, reversed his transformation and stepped forward towards the entrance to The Room. I followed him.

"_Really_ nice carpet," I said again.

Brittany nodded, smiling at me with her eyes, her expression mischievous. I knew what she was thinking and I shook my head, giving her a playful look. I paused to inspect her shoulder, which was bleeding a little.

_[I'm all right, San,]_ she said softly.

I looked up, catching her blue eyes. She stared back at me, and I smiled at her.

"Promise?"

She nodded, something she had picked up from humans, because it looked a little out of place on her Andalite body. It made me smile wider, though.

_[If you two are done,]_ Kurt huffed impatiently.

I gave him the finger, but reluctantly turned away to see Sam opening the door to The Room.

It was dark inside- well, duh, we knew it was going to be- but once we all shuffled past the entryway and into the room, we realized that it wasn't The Room we had been searching for. But it was definitely connected to it, as the big glowing keypad on a gigantic steel door on the opposite end indicated.

Brittany approached it slowly. She took a moment to analyze the menu on the keypad, which was all in Galard anyway, and then her shoulders slumped.

_[I cannot hack into the system without alerting the Yeerks that we are here,]_ she said.

"So that means we can't go through this door," Sam concluded. "I guess we have to find another way in."

"Why do I have the feeling you're about to mention the air conditioning vents again?" I groaned.

Sam smiled at me. "Because that's exactly what I was going to mention." He pointed his finger, and I followed it to see a tiny, tiny ass vent in the ceiling, barely outlined from the glow of the keypad. "Looks like we're going to be playing fly again."

_[Fuck my life,]_ Kurt muttered.

_[Mine, too,]_ Brittany agreed.

I tried to keep from laughing as Sam's face fell.

* * *

It turned out finding the vent in the dark was actually a lot harder than we thought it was going to be. The keypad, while giving off some light, didn't really supplement our already dim vision as flies. After we all flew around aimlessly for ten minutes, and none of us even knew if we had actually landed on the vent or even gotten close to it, Kurt volunteered to stay human to guide us to the vent.

No ulterior motive there. Nope. None.

Once he was human, we flew to him. His breathing and warmth was what I used, but there were any number of things, including the smell of his sweat, that a fly could've used. He carefully stood under the vent and raised his arm up, so that all we had to do was follow it straight up and we would be there. It still took some time until all of us made it in. And even then, we didn't actually know with absolute certainty that we had made it, we just had to do what we always did- wing it and hope for the best. Fuck, I was really getting tired of that.

_[I really hope this vent only cuts straight across one way,]_ I mumbled as I crawled my little ladybug self at a steady pace across the shaft. I didn't want to risk flying in circles or turning down another tunnel and getting lost. There was any number of things I could do to fuck up and I really didn't want to think about them.

_[It would make sense,]_ Sam said cheerily. At least _he_ was happy with the plan. I kind of wanted to punch him. I briefly wondered if ladybugs could eat flies when aphids weren't available. I'm sure they could eat whatever they wanted, I mean, if a ladybug was _starving_-

_[After all, Sugar said even the slightest breeze will set off the wires in the room,]_ Sam continued on, oblivious to my scheming. _[Which means they can't exactly pump the air from the system directly into that room, but they can't keep it stagnant, either. So this small ventilation shaft, if it only cuts to the other room, would let air currents pass naturally through it without stirring up anything.]_

_[That sounds like a lot of bullshit that you just made up,]_ I said casually. _[But you know what, Sammy? I will accept it, because I really just don't actually care.]_

_[Thank you, Santana,]_ Sam said, his tone flat and humorless. I was glad. Misery loves company, and right now, I was pretty-

_[Woah!]_ Mercedes said suddenly. _[I guess I reached the end, it just stopped. I'm gonna flutter down to the ground-]_

_[It's pressurized!] _Sam said loudly.

_[No, duh, Sam. But we can't just hang out in this vent. Sugar said that only the floor immediately surrounding the cube was pressurized.]_

_[Why the fuck does Sugar have all this great information for _you_, but everything I've asked about, Sugar had no fucking clue?] _I complained.

_[Like I fucking know?]_

I suddenly reached the edge of the vent, and my ladybug sensed the openness of the room. Couldn't see shit, but at least I could feel that I wasn't confined anymore.

I carefully made my way down to the floor as Mercedes called out, _[I'm almost back to human, and no alarm, so-]_ I guess her thought-speak ability stopped because she didn't say anything else. My little insect feet touched the ground and I focused on my human self.

Once I was human and blinking in the darkness, it took me a moment to realize that my eyes were not actually going to adjust. It was that dark.

I heard the shifting and rustling of the others, and we stood in awkward silence for a few moments.

"Okay. Now what?" I muttered under my breath, breaking the silence. It was extremely still in the room, other than the movement of the others. It made me jumpy and uneasy, and I really wanted to just get the cube and get out.

Except-

We had no fucking clue where it was in the room.

"You got me," Sam whispered. "We're winging this part, remember?"

"How could I forget? We're standing in total darkness with no fucking clue what to do," I hissed.

"Maybe if we transform into something-"

"Like what? Nothing can see in total darkness!"

_[Well, Earth bats can, but-]_

"Brittany, baby, not helping."

_[I apologize.]_

More silence.

I sighed irritably. "Wish we'd brought a flashlight."

"I think that would've probably tripped the light sensor," Mercedes said, speaking for the first time.

_[I have an idea,]_ Brittany said.

I heard Sam sigh and I would've punched him- if I knew where he was. "What is it, Brittany?" he asked kindly.

_[I have a form that I've collected from the planet Leera. It is bioluminescent.]_

We were all silent again for a moment while we thought that over.

"Uh, that might work-" Sam started.

"Do you think the light-sensor will pick it up?" Mercedes asked.

_[I believe that the light-sensors the Yeerks are using in this particular defense system are based off of certain points in the visible light spectrum- however the form I have acquired from planet Leera uses a very specific wavelength of light that is not-]_

"As fascinating as all that sounds, baby, we'll just take your word for it," I said, as gently as possible. "It's the best idea we have. I say we do it."

"I'm with Satan on this," Mercedes agreed.

"Me, too," Sam said. "Brittany, go ahead and change."

I didn't exactly see the transformation. I did, however, hear it. I had never really noticed the sounds of transforming, because there was always something happening to drown it out. However, in the total darkness of the room it was completely silent except for our separate breaths, and I could hear Brittany's organs rearranging themselves, her bones shifting, and it was actually pretty fucking creepy.

Moments later, a vibrant but muted light began to glow, and at first it hurt my eyes, having been in the dark for so long, but once they adjusted, I tried to piece together what she actually _was_. She looked vaguely like a seahorse, kind of? But like. With a snail-esque shell on her back. I don't even know. I was kind of mesmerized by the fluttering lights that blinked across her body. She squirmed a little on the floor, and I took a moment to utilize the faint glow she was giving off to survey the slightly illuminated room.

The floor moved at an increasing downward angle towards the center of the room. In the center stood a small pedestal, and on that pedestal, completely out in the open, was the blue box- or, as Brittany called it, the _Escafil_ Device. I was a little surprised- I mean, it wasn't even under glass or anything. It was just chilling. It wasn't even on, like, a red, velvet pillow or something. I mean, hadn't the Yeerks ever seen any _James Bond_ movies?

I scanned the rest of the room. I could just barely make out the thin wires that crisscrossed around the pedestal, making a very elaborate cage- which explained why they forewent the glass case, but not the pillow. I sized up the rest of the room until I located our exit- the steel door. It was complete with another keypad, but this one was completely dark. About three feet away from the keypad, attached to the wall, was a metal box. It looked kind of important, but I didn't linger too long on the details. We were probably running out of time.

"Okay, we transform into avatars," Sam started lowly, and Brittany's creepy snailhorse thing made a squeaky whining noise. "Santana, you, Mercedes and Brittany head for the door and start working on getting it open. I'll grab the cube, since I'm the only one who can hold onto it anyway besides Brittany. But I need her to open the door."

"Sounds like a plan," Mercedes said, hopeful.

"Once we get the door open, we get Kurt and we head for the stairs- don't stop to fight anyone, just blow through them- exactly like we did in the Yeerk Pool."

"Because that went so well," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

Sam ignored me. "We charge down the stairs and then out through the front. Hopefully Lauren will be waiting for us with the van."

"And we take care of any complications that arise as we come to them," Mercedes added.

"Fly by the seat of our fucking pants," I corrected.

"Brittany? Got anything to add?" Sam asked.

_[I cannot remain in this form for much longer, I am slowly suffocating,]_ Brittany said as calmly as possible, though there was a hint of stress in her voice.

"Britt! Change back," I said quickly, completely appalled that she had volunteered to change into something that she knew wouldn't even be able to breathe. I can't imagine forcing myself to stay in a form that was choking, dealing with the form's instincts, with its panic. What the actual fuck?

Her snailhorse creature thing offered another pathetic squeak-whine and she slowly began to change, holding on to her bioluminescent part as long as possible.

"Everyone got it?" Sam whispered.

We all voiced our agreements, and Brittany transformed back to Andalite at a much more rapid pace. I focused on the cheetah. As much as I felt a bull would be helpful in charging out of a building, I really needed the speed, and the maneuverability of the cheetah. I could easily run down stairs, slink away from Hork-Bajir, and run quickly away if needed. And I could still fight.

I didn't know what Mercedes changed into, but once she let loose a roar, I knew it was the bear. At the sound of her loud, terrifying rumble that reverberated off the silent, empty walls of the room, I heard Sam lunge for the cube. Seconds later, Sam's foot must've reached the pressurized part of the floor, because an alarm sounded.

And it was most definitely not _silent_.

Skree-EET! Skree-EET! Skree-EET!

_[Holy FUCK, can that be any more annoying?]_ I snapped as the alarm continued at a deafening volume. My cheetah was immediately in a panic, my ears flat against my skull, a scared hiss forcing its way from my throat. The room was flooded in red as a huge, blinking light near the ceiling suddenly activated. It was a little helpful since it bathed the room in some light, which was an improvement over the previous total darkness. But, honestly? The blaring of the alarm was not helping in _any_ way as the three of us reached the keypad next to the door. At least we didn't have to stumble in the dark.

Mercedes leaned her great big bear shoulder against the door but it didn't budge. She cursed, throwing all her weight against it. It still didn't move an inch. I was about to suggest Brittany use the keypad, but Brittany stepped forward delicately.

_[Allow me,]_ Brittany said easily, and without hesitation she moved to the steel box that was hanging on the wall near the door.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

Brittany spun and kicked her back legs into the box in quick succession, crumpling the metal frame of the box instantly. It opened like a can of tuna, revealing a mess of wires. I blinked.

_[Woah.]_ I hadn't realized Brittany's legs were so powerful, but once the metal box was crumpled, she reached forward deftly into the mess of wires and I felt like I was witnessing a real-life taping of _MacGuyver _as Sam sidled up next to us, holding the cube securely in his big gorilla fist. Within seconds, the huge steel door was sliding open and the four of us spilled out into the next room.

Skree-EET! Skree-EET! Skree-EET!

The volume of the alarm was earsplitting. I was definitely becoming numb to sound because of the constant screech of the alarm. Considering the cheetah's hearing was the best out of all of us, it was really hard to handle and my brain was pounding in time to the alarm as we staggered out the door and into the lushly-carpeted hallway. We stepped over the Hork-Bajir bodies that were still lying there, and I turned quickly as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye- a Hork-Bajir approaching us. I lowered into a crouch.

_[Relax, it's me,]_ Kurt said, and I hissed anyways. Another form I had no idea how Kurt managed to get. When did he have time? Or the balls? What was with this gay?

Quickly, we moved to the stairwell. Brittany opened the door and we charged down the stairs. Halfway down to the 3rd floor we were greeted by a group of about four Hork-Bajir. I say _about_ because I just saw bodies as we plowed into them. They didn't stand a chance against us as we all, with the exception of Sam who went full-on Gollum on that blue box, singled one out and then took them down. Then we were charging down the stairs again, rushing to the first floor.

When we got to the door (again, clearly marked with the number one in both English and Galard, how convenient and considerate) Brittany flung it open and we spilled into the hallway. Two Hork-Bajir were waiting and it was a quick and easy clean-up that took out part of the wall in the hallway. It was a shame about the blood-stains on the carpet, though.

Skree-EET! Skree-EET! Skree-EET!

The alarm was still as loud as ever, even three floors down, but at least there was actual light instead of the blinking red. My heart was pounding in anticipation. At any moment, tons of Hork-Bajir were going to come pouring out of any of the rooms connected to the hallway we were in, and that would be the end. I didn't know what to expect, who we were going to encounter. Puck? Finn? Sam's parents? My stomach clenched at that last one. I couldn't even bear to think that thought.

_[Okay, Sugar said make a right_!] Kurt reminded us as we reached the first hallway intersection.

_[So completely _helpful_, Sugar is,]_ I growled as we turned, and I grew increasingly more nervous and edgy.

This was too easy. We hadn't even really been engaged yet. Six Hork-Bajir? Four Hork-Bajir? _Two_ Hork-Bajir? Sure, it meant the Yeerks liked counting down with even numbers, but _they knew who we were_. They couldn't honestly think that those amounts of troops would _slow us down_, let alone _stop_ us. And I know they were very interested in keeping the blue cube. They had to be.

Where was the "heavily-guarded" _fortress_ Sugar had described?

_[Left!]_ Kurt yelled as we charged down the next hall.

The hall ended at another door.

_[This is it, the lobby,]_ Kurt said, slowing down as we reached the final door.

I took a deep breath. I had a bad feeling about what awaited us behind that door.

But we didn't have a choice, did we? It was the only way out. At least we knew what to expect. If there were guards- well, behind that door is where they would be.

_[Open it,]_ Sam said, his tone firm but with a waver of fear.

So I wasn't the only one who knew what was coming. Shit. That probably meant I was right.

Carefully, Kurt reached forward and with his Hork-Bajir claws, twisted the door handle and pushed the door open.

It was the lobby of the building, all right. A huge, wide, open space. At the far end was a solid glass wall, and glass doors that marked the exit.

_Our_ exit.

And between us and that exit were the two or three (oh, but it was definitely more like _three_) dozen Hork-Bajir that Sugar had warned us about. And about a dozen human-Controllers, as well. With shotguns. But really, who's counting them? Just the Hork-Bajir were enough to do us in.

_[Fuuuuck,]_ I whispered dejectedly. There was no way we were getting out of this. No way we were taking down _two_-dozen Hork-Bajir, let alone three. I didn't even want to do the math on that. And then guys with _shotguns_? We were crunchy _toast_. Any number of those shotguns could blow us apart at such close range.

We were fucked. Done.

Sam's shoulders slumped. He knew as well as I did that we were defeated before we even started. He wasn't completely dumb. We may be dead- we knew that, going in- but we weren't going down without a fight.

And before we went down, I would kill Puck. No way would I let him continue to live on as a slave. I would find him; I would put him out of his misery. I would do it with my last, overdramatic dying _breath_ if I had to.

I quickly scanned the human-Controllers, looking for him. Where was he? There were so many faces I didn't recognize. So many faces that meant nothing to me.

And then one face I did recognize.

She stepped forward, obviously in charge. She _always_ had to be in charge.

And then she opened her mouth, and the familiarity of her voice filled the void of silence.

"I hope you weren't planning on leaving so soon," Quinn said sweetly, sporting her signature triumphant smirk. Her hazel eyes held some of their old emotions- the way they craved love, power, and acceptance- but it was exemplified, it was _wrong_.

"Because the fun is just about to start."

* * *

**Listen. I'm sorry I'm a failure and I promise to be on time next week. Maybe even early! **

**Okay, okay, woah, let's not get crazy here...**

**Anyways! Hope you guys aren't dead from Glee! I know that after episode 8 I really have no more reason to watch until next year, so that's a great feeling! FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, THANK GOD ALMIGHTY I AM FREE AT LAST!**

**A-hem. Okay. Well. Review if you feel like it! But if not, that's fine, too! And see you next week (hopefully on Monday, maybe on Sunday but probably on Tuesday or Friday, lmao jkjkjk) with the next exciting (read: boring) chapter! LOL!**

**OKAY BYE NOW. Keep calm and ship Brittana! And Happy Thanksgiving! **


	19. Unseen Queen

**OH HELLO. What's that? It's MONDAY?**

**That's right! I'm actually on time this week!**

**I apologize for the short chapter, but- I didn't want to go on forever on this subject, I just wanted to touch on it is all. Next chapter will be hella long, so enjoy the brief breather before stuff gets heavy again. I want to try and have this story done by the end of the year, but- well, we'll see. My brain has this problem in that it keeps coming up with ideas, so. **

**Anyways, thanks to all of you who read, reviewed, favorited, or just discovered this story. You guys rock my stalks! (OUC WUT I DID THER? STALKS? STALK EYES? LIKE ANDALITE STALK EYES?! Okay, whatever ._.)**

**Happy reading! :B**

* * *

Have you ever looked up in the sky and wondered if aliens exist? You know, like _E.T._, _War of The Worlds_ and stuff?

I never did. I had other things to worry about: Cheerios practice, Prom Queen, the Celibacy Club… and then, after my parents stopped caring about my existence, I had to worry about _not_ worrying- hanging out with the Skanks, dying my hair, smoking Marlboro Menthols and all that.

So when I found out they existed, it came as a total surprise. I wasn't prepared. No one ever really is, except those crazy people who live in silver trailers out in the desert, wearing tinfoil hats and raving about government conspiracies and Area 51. But other than _those_ people, no one believes that they will _actually_ encounter an alien.

At least- nothing could have ever prepared _me_.

My name is Quinn Fabray.

And I'm a prisoner in my own body.

* * *

It took me a while to realize what was happening, when it happened. It wasn't like _Independence Day_ or anything. It was early Saturday evening, and I was at home, reading a book, waiting to hear back about a party, when my parents arrived home from wherever it was they had gone- the usual. They actually _spoke_ to me- that was _unusual_. I was so shocked that they noticed I was alive, I didn't listen to my instinct telling me something wasn't right. My parents had been ignoring my existence for months, and it bothered me a lot more than I wanted anyone to figure out. But I didn't know why they stopped caring- not until after it happened.

They said they were taking me out to dinner. To celebrate. They didn't really say what we were celebrating.

Now I know.

I guess I should consider myself lucky. I heard how others were taken- dragged, screaming, from their houses and into black Hummers to be driven against their will to the site. I was at least escorted calmly. But then again, why would I resist? They were my parents, and they were finally talking to me. I followed them willingly- of course I did.

I didn't immediately notice we weren't heading to a restaurant. We were heading to the new Community Center located next to a strip mall. I had never been, but apparently my parents spent a lot of time there. It had only recently opened within the last few months, and I knew that it hosted a lot of events for my school, particularly from the lame club called _New Directions_. But even ending up there instead of at a typical celebratory location, I didn't figure it out. Who would figure out the truth? It was seriously the last thing anyone would expect. Nothing could have prepared me for the truth, _nothing_.

We pulled up at the Community Center. I got out of the car, following my parents. Trusting.

And as they lead me inside, and two tall guys grabbed my arms and forced me to the small portable tank which contained my fate, I still didn't realize what was going on. I still looked at my parents, confused.

Trusting.

But their gazes were cold. Their eyes held no remorse. I thought I saw my mother look stricken for a second, but it was gone a moment later and I was sure I had imagined it.

And as my head was shoved unceremoniously under the tepid, sludgy water, and I felt the first touch of something slimy against my ear, that's when I began to figure it out.

I began to figure out that aliens were real.

I had just figured it out too late.

It was horrifying, the process. My ear felt mostly numb, but there was still the sensation of something slimy wriggling its way into my ear canal, into my _brain_.

I screamed. And screamed. And _screamed_.

And then, against my will, I stopped screaming.

* * *

At first, I didn't know why I had stopped screaming. I tried to move my mouth. But it didn't respond. The guys who had been holding my arms settled me into a chair. One of them looked intently into my eyes. I could see them, but I had no control over my eyes. I couldn't look away from them, at my parents. I couldn't even blink. I could only sit in my mind and wonder what was going on. I could only ask a million questions.

Was I going to die? Who were these people? Why were my parents just _standing_ there? Why couldn't I move my head? My eyes? My arm?

_What was in my head?_

After long moments of silence, where I wondered if I was going to somehow be the receptacle of some face-hugging alien's baby, the thing inside my head spoke to me. Silently.

_My name is Ardnek 316. I am Sub-Visser 47 of the great Yeerk Empire, and you are now my slave._

At first I laughed. Disbelievingly, because- well, come on. It sounds ridiculous even just recounting the experience, and I was _there._ But as the moments passed, and Sub-Visser 47 or whatever began to speak reassuringly to the two tall, anxious-looking men using my own mouth, the truth of the Yeerk's words began to sink in.

I was a slave.

I tried to move my arm. I concentrated very, very carefully.

_It's futile_, Sub-Visser 47 said, amused. _I control you, now._

I concentrated harder.

_You can resist all you like_, the Yeerk said, _but it is, as I said, pointless. No host has ever defeated a Yeerk._

_Wait, _I said. Well, thought. Because I couldn't actually use my mouth. _I'm not the only one? There are others like me?_

The Yeerk laughed. _Of course. You are but one of thousands, millions of hosts that belong to us. You see your parents over there? _The Yeerk aimed my eyes at my mom and dad, who stood a few feet away. _They are slaves to us, as well._

_No,_ I whispered.

Sub-Visser 47 laughed again. _Don't worry_, it said._ It will all begin to make sense to you soon._

* * *

I resisted, at first. What else could I do? I couldn't control my own body, I couldn't make my own decisions about what I wanted to eat, where I wanted to go, _nothing._ I literally had nothing else to do but sit in my own mind and thoughts, and concentrate on fighting the Yeerk. Which, I learned very quickly, was exhausting. After every attempt to seize power of just one finger, I felt weaker. And I only succeeded one time in gaining control of my middle finger. A silent representation of how I felt about the Yeerk controlling me.

The Yeerk was, initially, amused at my efforts. But after a full day of having to subdue me, it began to get angry and irritated. It found another way to force me into compliance.

You see, Sub-Visser 47 had control of my brain, including access to my thoughts and, more importantly, my memories. Its how it was able to play me so convincingly to my Skank friends at school. They didn't even notice I wasn't me. Sub-Visser 47 resented having to go to school. I could tell that it believed its rank should have made it immune to having to do mundane things like human education, which it ranted and raved was completely asinine and contained extremely incorrect information on all levels. It was something, at least, that we could both agree on. It spent the majority of its time, while my body had to attend class, sulking. And since I hadn't exactly been a ray of sunshine recently, nobody expected different from me.

Sub-Visser 47 took a special kind of joy in making me relive all my most painful, embarrassing memories. Whenever I was being too defiant, or too resistant, it would dredge up some excruciating memory of mine to fling in my face, and I would cower into the darkest corner of my mind and just- _ache_.

The Yeerk's thoughts were a mystery to me, though I could sense its emotion, and my own thoughts were an open book to it, one that it perused frequently and thoroughly. The experience always left me feeling raw and exposed. Nothing was private- _nothing_. Every fantasy, every thought, every dream or hope or wish was at Sub-Visser 47's disposal. There were parts of me I had never shared with another individual, would _never_ share with another individual- accessed and used freely, sometimes against me. My most embarrassing moments- my most intimate thoughts of another- my most delusional dreams of the future- my insecurities about my own body- all ripped open, laughed at, relived… truly more nightmarish than being under complete physical control.

But even then, I didn't _completely_ lose hope.

Not until my first trip to the Yeerk Pool.

* * *

On Monday, Sub-Visser 47 discovered that it was going to be given a new assignment. It didn't share very much about Yeerk politics with me, but I had no choice but to listen when other Yeerks, in hosts, spoke to it in my body. It wasn't like I could just turn myself off. I couldn't control my head or my eyes or my ears, but I was still in my own head. It was kind of like some sick form of brainwashing. Maybe it _was._

I tried not to listen- because I really didn't care. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself.

Why _me?_ There had to be a reason. I had only been a host for two days, but I knew that Yeerks only chose humans in positions of power. There had to be a reason why I was chosen. I didn't have any power.

What could I possibly offer the Yeerks?

It was Sub-Visser 47's excitement that initially got my full attention back. It- we?- were to be placed in charge of some project at the Haverbrook Tower. I didn't catch the details, I only knew it was an extremely important job, judging by the Yeerk's enthusiasm. We would be starting the next day, and my body would be excused from school, per some arrangement with Principal Sylvester, whom I had learned was also a host to the Yeerks.

The knowledge troubled me, somewhat- someone I actually _knew,_ besides my parents, had been a host for all that time, without my knowledge? It made me wonder how many people I knew, how many friends I had, that were also just hosts, also just Yeerks going through the motions of being humans to keep their existence concealed, to avoid suspicion. It wasn't a very happy line of thinking.

After the assigning of Sub-Visser 47's new job, the Yeerk decided it was time to feed. I had no clue what that entailed or even what Yeerks ate.

But I soon discovered it was a whole new type of horror.

Sub-Visser 47 guided my body deep, deep underground. And that's when the realization that I would never, ever escape Yeerk control hit me. Because I saw all those hosts- all those humans, like me, that were slaves- crying, begging, and screaming in cages. Some sat silently, staring into space. Some tried to hurt themselves. But as Sub-Visser 47 scanned their faces I wondered- who were these people? How were they important? Certainly not all of them were mayors or lawyers or politicians, right?

Some of them had to be just kids, like me. Maybe I really just was unlucky. Maybe I just had been unfortunately given a terrible hand in the game of life.

_You're pathetic_, Sub-Visser 47 sneered. _And I'm telling you this only because I grow tired of your constant self-pity. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to listen to your endless internal monologue of woe? It's irritating! So I will say: your host body is _very_ important. You'll find out why soon enough._

My legs moved on their own, controlled by Sub-Visser 47. We stood in a rapidly-moving line to a pier, and Sub-Visser 47 aimed my eyes back over to the cages. _Soon I will get a reprieve from your childish prattle, and you'll join your fellow humans in that cage_, it taunted.

I didn't answer, but as we approached the pier that stretched out over the vast, sludgy lake called the Yeerk Pool, I began to feel a little jubilant about gaining control of my body again. Two Hork-Bajir- aliens I was quite familiar with- stood nearby as my body moved to the edge of the peer, kneeled down, and my head turned to the side.

Sub-Visser 47 wriggled out, and little by little, it relinquished control of my body to me.

I concentrated on moving my eyes. They looked where I aimed them. I was so shocked that I couldn't really do or say anything as the two waiting Hork-Bajir grabbed me and began to guide me over to the cages.

I could've screamed. I could've cried. But I was so completely shocked, so relieved to be turning my own head, to be moving my own arms, that I really forgot to. Besides, screaming wouldn't have helped. Who would have heard me? Who would have responded? And crying? What would crying have done? Given me a headache, probably.

Once in the cage with the others, I looked at them, trying to find a familiar face.

I cringed when I found one.

"Quinn?"

I turned to look her in the eye. It was Rachel. She looked miserable. She had been crying, and her face looked gaunt and sad. She wasn't screaming. She seemed like she had accepted her life as a host. I felt panic overtaking me as I looked at her. Would that be me? Would I be a sad, pathetic husk of a person someday soon, once I realized that there was no more hope? That there was no one coming for me?

"Rachel," I said softly. She wasn't exactly my friend. In fact, I kind of despised her. But at the same time, how could I not feel sorry for who she had become?

I moved to sit next to her.

"How- how long have you-" she started hoarsely. She coughed. Her voice was wobbly, tiny. As if she wasn't used to speaking. And with a sick feeling in my stomach, I realized she probably wasn't.

"Three days," I said.

She nodded, her eyes far away. I wanted to ask her how long she had been a host, too. I wanted to know how long it took to lose hope, how long before the realization sank in. But I was also scared to know the answer. She seemed to sense that, though. She didn't offer up the information. Instead she offered me a wan smile. "You haven't lost your fight yet, I see."

I swallowed.

_Yet._

There were a million other things I wanted to ask her. Like, how did she become a host? What do Yeerks even eat? Is there any way to escape at all? Was there any hope?

But as I looked into her face, I figured out the answer.

No one was coming for her. For us. We were slaves to an alien invasion that no one even realized was happening. There wasn't even a resistance, was there? How could anyone resist the Yeerks?

"Don't lose hope," Rachel croaked, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Someday, the Andalites will come. Someday, we will be free."

"What's an Andalite?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed. Who was _she_ to tell _me_ not to lose hope? Had she seen her own hopeless face lately?

"They fight the Yeerks," Rachel said calmly, offering me a patient smile. "I forgot that you're new."

I tried not to let my anger show and remembered why I disliked Rachel in the first place. Even while _being a slave to an alien empire_ she had to be better than everyone else. I sighed.

"So what, they're like the resistance?"

"We have our own resistance," Rachel said mysteriously, and I wished she would just get to the point. I didn't know how long Sub-Visser 47 would be swimming around in that stupid lake. Plus I really didn't want to talk to her, to be honest. Getting information from her was like pulling teeth.

"Oh?" I said, my tone bordering on annoyance. _Get to the freaking point._

"Yes, there are several kids that go to our school that somehow managed to acquire the power to transform themselves, which previously was a power understood to be held only by Andalites but they-"

"Rachel I have no idea what you're saying."

"Well, Kurt, Mercedes, that large-lipped boy Sam and your own disagreeable friend, Santana, as well as-"

"What about Santana?" I demanded. God, she _loved_ to talk, didn't she?

"They-"

A loud banging startled us both, and Rachel and I both looked to the source of the sound, which turned out to be a menacing Hork-Bajir standing by the entrance to the cage. He pointed his clawed hand towards Rachel, and her face fell. I felt a chill shoot down my spine as she turned back to me, her eyes unspeakably sad.

"Well, I- I'll see you," she said, her voice cracking as she stood slowly. She held my eyes for a moment before she turned, shaking only slightly, and walked towards the Hork-Bajir.

I sat alone on the floor with my knees tucked under my chin, hugging myself for the short remainder of my freedom.

* * *

When Sub-Visser 47 re-entered my head, it immediately perused my most recent memories.

_Ah, Rachel_, he said, his tone malicious, and even though I didn't necessarily hold a lot of love for Rachel, I resented the way he referred to her. _She's got an interesting history. She was my host for a short time. Perhaps you'd be interested in some of her memories?_

_Oh, please, please,_ I said patronizingly.

Sub-Visser 47 laughed. _I would punish you with them, but I honestly can't stand to relive them, myself, _he sneered._ Such an obnoxious human. _

I felt a little defensive that an alien was calling a human obnoxious, even if it was _right-_ but I was too drained to even really care. The Yeerk Pool experience had really made me do a lot of thinking.

Was Rachel my future? In however long, would _I_ be the shivering, pale host in a cage, telling the new host girl not to lose hope, even though I'd clearly lost mine? The thought sickened me.

But there was really no other way the future could play out… was there?

* * *

"My name is Ardnek 316," my mouth said. Only, as usual, it wasn't me talking. It was the Yeerk in my brain. I could still see the collection of animals in front of me. I could still hear the conversation happening. I could still feel. The sensations were dulled, but I was still connected to them.

But I had no control.

The Yeerk, Sub-Visser 47, controlled me. Still. And all I could do was watch, still helpless, as it addressed the group of ferocious Earth animals, and one Hork-Bajir.

_That's right, _Sub-Visser 47 told me. _You are powerless._

_Like I don't already know that_, I told him. Her. It. Whatever. I'd been a host for four days, and I still didn't know. And honestly, I didn't really care.

_[You're Quinn,]_ Santana said.

Wait. Santana. My _friend_ Santana. I recognized her voice. She was a cheetah?

"Yes, this body is Quinn," Sub-Visser 47 said with my mouth. My voice. Exactly how I would have said it. "But I control it now. Quinn is in here with me," my hand tapped my head softly, "but she's a prisoner, a slave. She is mine."

The cheetah's eyes narrowed. Its ears flattened against its skull. It was really a pretty amazing animal. And the mutation- caused by a recessive gene, of course- was a unique choice that was _so_ Santana.

Wait. Santana. Santana was a cheetah. How was she a cheetah?

_Figure it out_, Sub-Visser 47 encouraged in a patronizing, taunting voice. _Think about it._

I ignored the Yeerk and concentrated on everything I knew. Rachel had mentioned Santana. She'd also mentioned the transforming power. She'd also mentioned Kurt, Mercedes, Sam-

Oh.

"I bet you're wondering when Quinn became a slave?" my body asked, using just the right inflection to make it sound challenging, threatening. Just like me. "Let me enlighten you. You see- once your identities became known to us, we infested everyone associated with you. Quinn is not only a friend of Santana's, but she was a _special_ friend of Puck's."

Puck.

_That's right, _Puck, Sub-Visser 47 said gleefully to me. _Otherwise known as the infamous Visser Seven!_

Oh, no. No, no, no. Puck was a host, too?

_Not just any host,_ the Yeerk bragged_. _The_ host. The only host equipped with the transforming power._

_ But, how-_

_[So you infested Quinn because she was our friend?]_ Santana said disgustedly, snapping my thoughts back to the present. My shoulders shrugged, and a smirk graced my lips.

"Pretty much," my mouth said. Cockily.

_[Well, Q, I guess I should say sorry about that,] _Santana growled._ [How about I make it up to you by ripping that slug out of your brain?]_ Her words gave me a flutter of hope, but it was quickly squashed.

"Oh, I'm sure she'd love that," my mouth said. "She hates me, you know. Too bad you're so hopelessly outnumbered you can't even expect to _survive_, let alone destroy _me_."

The group of animals tensed, preparing to fight. There was a bear, a gorilla, and what looked like a lavender centaur with-

_An Andalite,_ Sub-Visser 47 snapped impatiently.

_Well excuse me for not knowing everything. Maybe if you'd explained some things to me instead of being a dick…_ I snapped back. I hated not knowing what was going on.

_[We'll see,]_ Sam's voice challenged. I think he was the gorilla. He held a small, blue cube in his giant gorilla fist. I recognized it as the blue box that granted the transforming power, the whole reason why Sub-Visser 47 was placed on this assignment to begin with. This tower was devoted to keeping that box safe. But despite Sam's brave front, even _I_ could see that they were completely outnumbered.

_That's an astute observation,_ Sub-Visser 47 said. _And now they will die at your command. _

_ No!_

My hand raised into the air, and I heard the sound of at least a dozen shotguns being cocked. I watched the animals before me grow even tenser, but Sam the Gorilla raised his fist, displaying the blue cube, and my smile turned into a frown.

"How troublesome," my mouth said in a pouty voice. "Oh, what ever shall I do?"

_[You can't fire, or you'll risk hitting this. And then you're screwed,]_ Sam said.

_[Fucked,]_ Santana agreed, her cheetah tail flicking behind her. _[Try explaining that to your boss.]_

"You're right," my mouth said nonchalantly. My shoulder shrugged. Sub-Visser 47 stayed confident. It irked me. "Human hosts, sit this one out." A disappointed sigh reverberated through the room and all of the humans lowered their shotguns. My mouth smiled widely as it said, "Hork-Bajir, take them out."

The reaction was instantaneous. Sub-Visser 47 hustled my body out of there, and I stood on the sidelines and watched as an extremely fierce and bloody battle unfolded before me. I tried not to watch- I didn't want to- but Sub-Visser 47 was actively engaged in watching the fight, and regularly cheered and clapped and jeered.

It all happened extremely fast, and I was disgusted as severed body parts and blood flew. I had learned during my time as a host that the Hork-Bajir had been a gentle race, and that their many blades were used for harvesting bark, which was what their diet consisted of. So, of course, being benign in nature, they fell as slaves to the Yeerks quickly and utterly. The only free Hork-Bajir in the galaxy were dead ones. It made me wonder if humans were next on that list.

A loud roar interrupted my thoughts and I watched a bear, which I'm pretty sure was Mercedes, rip the head off a Hork-Bajir. I inwardly cringed, but remained slightly impressed. She and the others had really been fighting the Yeerks? And by the looks of how skilled they were in fighting, they'd been doing it for a while. I was actually strangely proud that humans, people I actually _knew,_ were resisting the alien invasion. And not only resisting- actively fighting against it. I wondered if they knew how vast the Yeerk Empire was, if they'd been to the Yeerk Pool, if they knew-

_[Sam! At your back!]_ Santana screamed.

The gorilla turned and smashed his fist into a Hork-Bajir's face, sending him flying._ [Thanks!]_ Sam said as he swung over and Hulk-smashed another Hork-Bajir who was on Mercedes' hind leg. The Hork-Bajir was just a smear on the carpeted floor of the lobby after that. Mercedes swiped another Hork-Bajir's arm off, and Santana bit into a different one's neck, crushing his throat and earning a deep slash to her ribs. She screeched the familiar cheetah noise, and whirled to take out another Hork-Bajir.

I had never seen an Andalite before in my life, but watching the lavender centaur-like alien fight was admittedly mesmerizing. Her- because I'm fairly certain that it was a her- tail cracked like a whip, striking repeatedly and severing limbs, leaving gashes in chests, opening wounds in legs. Her tail never slowed down enough for me to actually see what was at the end of it- I assumed it was some kind of blade or something-

_Will you stop with your analyzing?_ Sub-Visser 47 demanded._ I tire of your thoughts!_

_You're welcome to leave,_ I offered.

_Oh, you think you're funny, do you? Want something to laugh at? How about this:_

I wasn't in the lobby of the tower anymore. I was on stage, in the gymnasium of my school. The student body was below me on the gym floor, dressed fantastically in tuxes and various dresses.

I felt sick as I watched my fantasy play out before me.

The people next to me didn't matter. They were faceless. One of them was probably Santana, but they weren't important details in my fantasy. Only the next part was.

Principal Sylvester tore open a little envelope, and she held it up to read it dramatically. "And the winner of Prom Queen is… Quinn Fabray!"

I smiled confidently as I stepped forward and the crowd erupted in cheers. Principal Sylvester took the crown from her assistant, Becky, and placed it onto my head. I turned, giving the crowd my most winning smile as I waved.

Then I was back in the lobby. Fantasy over.

_See? Now _that_ was funny_, Sub-Visser 47 mocked.

_Shut up_, I mumbled.

The roar of the fight was getting louder, and, I noticed, my team was becoming overwhelmed. They had put up a good fight in the beginning, but the sheer number of Hork-Bajir simply overpowered them.

_The Yeerk Empire will always prevail_, Sub-Visser 47 said sagely.

_We'll see_, I muttered. Maybe Santana would kill me with her last dying breath. At least I'd be free.

_Oh, now you're just desperate._

_Shut _up_,_ I growled.

I continued to watch as the others were slowly conquered. Santana was missing a foot of her tail. One side of her face was so mangled it just looked like raw hamburger, and her front leg on that same side was shredded. She was covered in blood. It made me queasy. The Andalite was nearby, but now she walked with a limp. She had a deep slash from her rib to her stomach, but she hadn't stopped the movement of her tail, even though I could see she was becoming exhausted. They all were.

I felt my last ounces of hope starting to leave me. Sam was on the ground, one hand holding his stomach together, the other trying to avoid two Hork-Bajir who were bent over him, kicking him and trying to pry the blue cube from his hand. Mercedes I couldn't see because she was behind four or five Hork-Bajir who were on her.

_I told you_, Sub-Visser 47. _No one can defeat the Yee-_

The squealing of tires interrupted the Yeerk's boasting, and my body turned towards the sound just in time to see a van come barreling through the glass front of the lobby, shattering it and sending glass everywhere. My arms came up to shield my face from the flying shards, but I still gained several cuts across my forearms. The pain sensation was dulled by the time it reached me- but I still felt it.

The van drove straight towards Sam in the center of the room, and halted as it plowed into one of the Hork-Bajir bent over him, sending it flying into the reception desk. Papers went fluttering and I heard the dull thud and ring of a phone hitting the floor.

Everyone in the room froze as the driver's side door of the van opened quickly, smashing into the second Hork-Bajir that was standing over Sam and sending him sprawling to the ground. A very robust woman was seated behind the wheel, and she paused to push her glasses up her nose before screaming, "Get in!"

"Isa 242?" my mouth whispered incredulously. I was all kinds of confused, but I could feel Sub-Visser 47's complete disbelief. "What is she doing?"

Sam wasted no time in scrambling to his feet and half-staggering, half-crawling to the sliding side-door of the van, yanking it, his body already shrinking rapidly. He was changing! I had never witnessed a transformation before, and I watched in fascination before Sub-Visser 47 redirected my eyes to the remaining Hork-Bajir.

"Don't let them escape!" my mouth ordered, and they all clambered to rush the van.

That is- until the chubby woman behind the wheel pulled out her _own_ shotgun, and I almost laughed in disbelief as she began firing wildly at the approaching Hork-Bajir, cackling with delight as they were ripped apart by the sprays of shots.

"This. Is. Not. _Happening!"_ my mouth screamed in rage. I even stamped my foot to prove my point. I don't seriously do that, do I?

I spied a brown rolling blur of fur, and saw Mercedes lumbering towards the van, also rapidly shrinking. Sub-Visser 47 followed the movement and I noticed that Kurt was already inside- he must've moved in while we were focused on the pudgy girl, I guess- which only left Santana and the Andalite.

My head turned to find the cheetah, and I spotted her, collapsed on the ground. For a split second I selfishly worried that Santana would die, and that the others would, in fact, escape- and that I'd still be a slave, a forgotten casualty in this war that had nothing to do with me-

But then I saw a flash of lavender, and the Andalite was crouching on her deer-like legs to scoop Santana's form up carefully into her arms. I was impressed- cheetahs weigh like, what, 70 pounds? But she rose to her feet with only a slight shake in her legs, and took two steps.

_[Wait- Quinn-]_ Santana gasped weakly.

The Andalite's main eyes fell to me, hesitantly. Our eyes locked. My lips twisted up into a snarl as I felt Sub-Visser 47's hatred flowing through my body. A quick, tense moment passed between us and finally, the Andalite nodded. Sub-Visser 47 froze. The Yeerk's sudden dread and understanding flooded my body, though for me, it was only an overwhelming sense of relief.

They were going to take me.

Sub-Visser 47 resisted, of course.

"No!" my mouth cried out. My arms swung feebly, but missed. My hands reached blindly for a shotgun, snatching one from the body of a fallen human host nearby. My arms raised it clumsily- I'd never shot a gun before, and Sub-Visser 47 only had my experience to draw from- but as soon as the muzzle of the shotgun lined up with the Andalite, there was a flash.

And searing pain.

My mouth was screaming with agony, my eyes fell dramatically to my right hand- or at least, the place where my right hand had been. Now there was only a stump. And blood. Lots of blood. I felt instantly nauseous. My breath was already coming in rapid gasps.

Santana- familiar, human Santana- stood next to the Andalite, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry, Q," she muttered, and I saw another quick flash, felt a quick spike of pain in my head-

And then everything went black.

* * *

I woke up in a very bland room. It was mostly dark, with just a tiny nightlight on the wall illuminating the plain boringness of the room. My head had a dull, throbbing pain, but the ache at the end of my arm was a lot stronger, though still not as strong as it should have been, considering my hand had been completely sliced off. It was bandaged carefully and it wasn't bleeding, but it hurt immensely. My arms tried to move, but they were restrained by leather straps to the bed. My legs were in the same condition. My eyes searched the room for something, anything to use to escape. I knew Sub-Visser 47 was assessing its situation. But I was alone in the room.

My eyes fell to the small table beside the bed, where a tiny note was. I read it carefully.

_Hang in there, Q. –S_

I wanted to smile. I felt elation filling me, and for the first time, I felt true hope.

I knew that Sub-Visser 47 could not survive longer than three days without returning to the Yeerk Pool. I had no idea how long my body had been asleep for, but it had at least been a day and half since the Yeerk had last fed when I'd been liberated by Santana and the others on Wednesday night. Which meant-

_One more day, Yeerk,_ I gloated.

_Less than that, actually,_ Sub-Visser 47 corrected, sounding miserable, defeated. It made me feel even more elated. Even Sub-Visser 47 had resigned itself to lose! That meant for sure I would be free.

Free.

I hadn't even allowed myself to think of the possibility of being free again. And I had only been a slave for five days. I couldn't imagine how it would feel a week, a month, a year down the road as a host, a slave, trapped and subdued. I couldn't imagine what it was like for Rachel, who'd obviously been a host for a long time. I couldn't imagine what it was like to be so deep in despair, in hopelessness, that I'd give up. I'd forget about freedom. I'd forget any future, any dream of freedom I had and just accept my fate.

Without warning my mouth started screaming. Sub-Visser 47 was panicking. My mouth was yelling, cursing in foreign languages I didn't understand, demanding, crying. My arms and legs were straining, struggling against the leather bonds keeping them restrained to the bed. My body thrashed. My head tossed. My mouth screamed some more.

To no avail- no one even came to check on me as my body went nuts.

But inside my own head I was laughing.

_Laughing!_

I knew freedom was just around the corner. I knew soon Sub-Visser 47 would be dead.

And I'd be free.

I'd be just Quinn again.

I wasn't just a forgotten civilian, a sad casualty in a war that had nothing to do with me. I may have lost my hand, but I was not losing my freedom- not forever.

_Stop,_ Sub-Visser 47 demanded as I continued to work myself up into an even happier mood. _Or I'll show you the_ Lucy_ memory-_

_You know what, Ardnek 316?_ I asked suddenly. I_ have something I want to show_ you.

And before the Yeerk could respond, my mind suddenly imagined a whole new scenario.

* * *

I'm standing next to Santana. Next to Sam, and Mercedes, and Kurt, and that Andalite girl.

Next to Puck.

My hand is fully restored. And we're all standing on a stage outside. It's sunny, and the color guards of all the military branches are there. The President approaches us- Beiste, who was our Governer, whatever- and she smiles and hands us all ribbons. I look out into the audience, and I see Rachel. The light has returned to her eyes, to her smile. My parents are next to her, cheering at me, crying. They look prouder than ever. Even Principal Sylvester is in the crowd, smiling knowingly. And the faces of all the people I saw in the Yeerk Pool- they're all in the crowd, too.

"…would like to recognize Quinn Fabray, for her bravery," Beiste is saying.

I smile confidently and step forward as the crowd erupts into cheers. Beiste picks up a small medal from a velvet box that her husband is holding. She fastens it to my chest, and I turn towards the crowd and smile winningly as I wave.

And then, the blackness of the room returned to me. Fantasy over.

But the happy feeling had not left me.

_You will die, Yeerk, _I told Sub-Visser 47._ Because I will never, ever give up hope._

* * *

**Okay, okay. So on a scale of gouda to cheddar, how cheesy was this chapter?**

**LOL. I just wanted to show what life is like from the host's POV. Any questions? Bring 'em!**

**Btw, I'm pretty sure _Glee_ is like, reading my brain or something. I've had this chapter planned forever but OH SUDDENLY THEY WANT TO BRING QUINN BACK THIS WEEK. Mama Eff, man. Fuck you, _Glee._ :P**

**Next week we're back to Santana again... and what do you guys think? Quinn's gonna join the _Transformers_ or what? ;)**

**Well, review if you feel like it! But if you don't feel like it, then I guess you can hit it and quit it, ahaha.**

**See you next Monday with a significantly longer chapter! :D**


	20. Reading Between the Lions

**Well, hello there. Happy Monday! :)**

**So- I'm sure many of you are upset with _Glee_ right now. I know I openly wept when I saw the promo for episode 9, I ain't ashamed- but I encourage all of you to move into the neighborhood where I live- Brittanaville, the place where Canon was never invented!**

**Haha okay, but seriously, we all knew Bram was going to happen. And even though it hurts, I accept it. BUT that doesn't mean I _want to watch it happen_, U FEEL ME? So for me, _Glee_ has gone on hiatus early this year and won't be returning until Brittana is back on. **

**For those of you joining me in resisting _Glee's_ evil powers, but need something to Occupy your time with (OUC WUT I DID THER), I will be posting a very short one-shot on Thursday night. So stay tuned. :)**

**Okay, but enough about _Glee._ .-. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter; I'm glad you guys like Quinn so much. (Hopefully you still like her even after that hot mess of an episode last week. Woops- sorry, forgot we aren't discussing _Glee_ anymore, lmao) I appreciate all the reviews, favorites, and follows! And of course, even you silent lovelies out there who are just reading and lurking, I appreciate you, too! **

**Happy reading. 8)~**

* * *

I stifled a yawn, wrapping my arms more securely around my knees as I sat on the cold, hard ground, propped up against the most uncomfortable tree in the land. It was earlier than I would have liked to be out of my warm bed and Brittany's warmer arms, but I snuggled down into my soft hoodie and gazed out at the open field before me, trying to find a comfortable position against the Tree of Misery. The sun hadn't risen yet, and the world was still gray and covered with dew, but it was the only time Brittany could be out in the open like this.

It was a relatively private area, I guess. I mean, how would I know, though? I'd never been here before. It wasn't far from the Motta Mansion, but our dear Sweetness had ensured us that it was safe and secure, so we trusted her. Her ass was on the line, now, as much as ours. By aiding us in stealing the blue box back from the Yeerks, even though her part in it had been unknown to them, she had placed herself in serious danger. If any of us were to become infested, now, she would be under fire in an instant. Not a pretty thought any way you paint it.

Another chill went through me and I shivered. The days were growing gradually colder, and it made me grateful that Brittany had been helping me and the others with transforming clothes- specifically jackets, because let's face it, spandex was not really all that insulating. I was also grateful that the sun was slowly rising on the horizon, its warm rays flickering through the trees, and I focused my thoughts back to Brittany's graceful figure in the distance.

She was running in her natural form. Eating, really. It had been a long time since she'd been able to just have a moment outside of the _Batcave_, free from the plagues of her claustrophobia. Watching her run in a wild, exuberant manner across the grass while the sun rose brought a warmth to my chest that chased a lot of the morning chill away. I could see my breath, but I ignored the cold seeping into my bones in favor of tracing my eyes over Brittany's smooth form. I'd always thought Brittany, in her natural body, was beautiful, even for being an alien. But as I watched the ripple of her muscles, the graceful stretch of her legs, and the elegant flow of her movement which seemed almost like a dance in and of itself, I was reminded of just how mesmerizing she really was. My heart felt like it might explode from too much adoration as I sat gazing at her from the edge of the meadow. Is that even possible? I absent-mindedly rubbed the spot on my chest directly over my heart, smiling to myself like the biggest goober alive. But I didn't care- there was no one around to see me grinning like an idiot except Brittany, and well. So?

Brittany did a spontaneous, agile leap into the air, kicking out her back legs, and the sight made me giggle in spite of myself. Her joy was kind of infectious, and I couldn't help but be happy to see her prancing around openly. It was nice to witness her in such carefree spirits, especially after our most recent battle- that we almost didn't escape from.

Without really wanting to, my thoughts travelled back to that night, two nights ago. Images of blood, severed limbs and outright carnage flashed through my mind. Memories of intense pain, of the overwhelming instinctual need to survive, resurfaced, and I shivered again. I tried to refocus on Brittany, but my eyes fell to her tailblade, and I got lost remembering the flash of it as it severed Quinn's hand.

Quinn-

She'd been in a pretty fragile state the last day in a half. I had hoped her three-day trial had been almost over when we snatched her, but after a day, it seemed like she had been in the middle of the Yeerk's feeding cycle. I recalled the hectic drive back to the Mansion, Quinn's unconscious body dumped haphazardly on the floor of the van. Lauren drove like a maniac, sending us all lurching, and I had watched Quinn's pallor become even paler as blood continued to pump steadily from her amputation. Kurt had freaked out, worried about the Yeerks following us, worried that, because we had Quinn, they weren't going to give up chasing us so easily.

I really didn't give two fucks about being followed- not with the way Lauren was swerving. If the Yeerks had actually been able to follow us, then bless their little hearts, they deserved to catch us. I had to focus on damming the continuous stream of blood coming from Quinn's arm before she went further into shock and died. Sam had offered up his transforming shirt, and I had used the material to tie a tourniquet around her brachial artery to stop the flow of blood- then it was just a matter of utilizing basic elevation and pressure. Once back at the Mansion, Sugar was able to procure someone to give Quinn more professional medical attention. Then, once she was stable, we relocated her down to the _Batcave_. The whole ordeal was chaotic.

I briefly wondered how things would be once Quinn was free; would she want to join us? Did she really have a choice at this point? I mean, I guess she didn't have to accept the power- she could live down in Creepyland with us but we definitely couldn't let her walk out in the open. We were kind of in a similar situation to the one we were in with Sebastian-

I cringed at the memory. Quinn wouldn't be like that.

Hopefully.

I shook myself out of my thoughts. It was warming up a little, and I got to my feet, stretching my arms over my head and walking slowly out to the center of the clearing to feel the sun's rays on my face. The bright colors accompanying the rising sun had faded from the sky, but the crisp, chilly air of the morning, complemented by the sweet smell of the grass, made me close my eyes and inhale deeply, and I took a moment to just be thankful to actually be alive, because after that fight two nights ago…

The pounding of hooves behind me alerted me to Brittany's swift approach, and I smiled, my eyes still closed as I savored the warmth on my face. It had been so long since I'd even seen the sun.

Brittany slowed as she neared me, and for a moment I thought she was going to stop, but she surprised me by skidding into a crouch, grasping my arm and swinging me around onto her back. Well- the back of her deerlike part, I guess. I don't even know, I've never ridden an alien centaur, okay? Not even ridden a regular centaur, either. That seems more like something Sam would do in one of his fantasies.

"Britt!" I gasped, wrapping my arms around her waist. I was completely unprepared for whatever crazy thing she had planned. Her silent laughter filled my mind as she took off at a slow trot, and I held on tighter as she gradually picked up her pace. It wasn't the most ideal riding position, let's be honest. Her back wasn't flat, it was more sloped, so I had to hold on very tightly to keep from sliding off and ending up in a full-blown Scorpion position on the grass. And then the whole idea of riding Brittany- _wanky_- was kind of weird, too.

Brittany slowed to a stop, and I practically fell off of her and onto the grass, thankfully ending up sprawled on my back while I gazed up at her, squinting against the brightness of the sun, which had risen quickly.

She stepped over me, her eyes shining with mirth. She laughed silently in my head again and I propped myself up on my elbows, raising my left hand to shadow my eyes.

"You could warn me next time," I huffed, giving her a fake pout.

She smiled in her non-mouth way and instead bent to offer me her hand. I took it and she pulled me gently to my feet. She stroked her soft fingers down the side of my face, as if reassuring herself that I was okay, and then, once she came to a favorable verdict, she whipped her tail into the air so fast that it made a loud cracking noise, scaring the bejesus out of me. I hadn't been expecting it, and I guess I looked pretty startled because it prompted Brittany's laughter again. She lifted up onto her hind legs just barely, and I could practically feel the enthusiasm pouring off of her in waves.

"Britt," I sighed, her good mood still completely contagious, like some kind of awesome rabies. I couldn't stop myself from grinning like a dope at her. She grabbed my hand, squeezing it briefly in hers before we walked to the edge of the meadow together.

_[It's just- it's been too long since I've been able to _run_-]_ Brittany admitted sheepishly.

I squeezed Brittany's hand supportively. "You don't have to explain yourself to me," I said softly. "I know how hard it is down there- for you."

_[I'm sorry,]_ she apologized. _[It must be very difficult for you to-]_

"Stop. You can't help being uncomfortable. It's in your nature, right?"

Brittany nodded. _[As herd animals and grazers, Andalites like open spaces. It's why we made Dome Ships,]_ she explained. Then she added, _[You were thinking for a long time.]_

I smiled to myself. "How do you know I was thinking?" Brittany shrugged, the motion tugging on my hand and I chuckled at the awkward human gesture on her Andalite body. I continued, "Maybe I just enjoyed watching you run. I've never seen you- before."

_[You were _watching me_ for a long time, then,]_ she amended.

This time I outright laughed before I turned serious. "It's just- we could've-" I took a deep breath. "If Lauren hadn't-" I paused, feeling my throat tighten with emotion. I swallowed a few times before I looked up into Brittany's blue eyes. I hadn't realized we had stopped walking. I tried to finish what I was about to say, but I found I just couldn't. Not without voicing my deepest fear. Not without making that fear real by saying it out loud. I averted my eyes to the grass and shook my head slightly. When I lifted my gaze back to Brittany's face, her eyes held an understanding- yet _sad_- look.

_[I know.]_

I swallowed again, thickly. "Okay," I whispered. I offered her a weak smile, and she returned it- her version only slightly more mouthless.

She turned her stalk eyes to the sky, scanning the position of the sun for a brief moment._ [Come,]_ she said softly. _[It's almost time.]_

I nodded in agreement and focused on my Kite.

* * *

I held my breath as I pushed open the door to Quinn's temporary room, unsure of what I would find. Would she be dead? Gone? Still a slave? Free? I chewed my lip as I crossed through the threshold and into the room, pulling Brittany gently by the hand behind me.

Sam was seated by Quinn's bedside. Quinn still looked pretty pale, and kind of out of it. We'd kept her doped up on some pain meds- mostly because of her hand, but also because it might make her last days of being enslaved go by faster for her if she was drugged up. But there was no way to be certain. I bit my lip, letting go of Brittany's hand, and sidled up next to Sam.

"I think the _fugue's_ starting," Sam said quietly. "I didn't want her to be alone." I nodded. The _fugue_ was the word given to the last few hours of a Yeerk's life. It's supposed to be hella unpleasant. Once again, I was reminded that, out of all of us, only Sam would know how awful a thing it was to experience, having lived through it himself. The thought made me shiver.

I glanced at Quinn's pale face. Her eyelids fluttered weakly, giving me just a glimpse of her cloudy, darkened hazel eyes, which were a lot more green than brown- a clear indication of her stressful condition and a reminder that she was still pretty doped up. The thought brought a smirk to my face- at least she wasn't in too much pain. But I also didn't know if being trapped completely in her head with just the Yeerk for company was better or worse. Guiltily, I looked down at her bandaged arm. If she became a _Transformer_, the technology would more than likely restore her hand. But I didn't want that to be the reason why she joined our little freak team. I wasn't going to tell her of the healing aspect of the technology, because I knew, being as vain as she was, she would join solely based on that. Of course, she was also pretty smart- she could probably figure out that her hand would be restored, but confirmation wasn't something I was willing to give her. I didn't want a repeat of the mistakes we had already made with Sebastian. Honestly, I wasn't sure that we could all survive another ordeal like that one.

Quinn's body shuddered violently for a moment, and then went still. I glanced at Sam's worried face.

"It's definitely starting," he whispered. I pressed my lips together firmly, moving slowly around the bed so that I was closer to the hand that was still attached to Quinn's body. I took it firmly in my right hand, and with my left I reached up to brush some errant strands of her short bangs from her forehead. Her skin was cold and clammy, and there was a thin sheen of sweat covering her face. Her hand suddenly tightened around mine, and I squeezed it back reassuringly.

"It's okay, Q," I said softly. "I'm right here. You're going to get through it. It's almost over."

She said something, but between being high as a kite and fighting an alien for control of her own body, it came out as an unintelligible mumble. I settled in beside her, determined not to leave her side until the Yeerk was out and she was free again. I continued to stroke my fingers through her hair and whisper soothing, encouraging things to her. I knew the Yeerk was still inside her, still in control, and still hearing my words. It was probably gaining comfort from them, too, but I didn't care. I knew Quinn was in there somewhere, and I knew she could hear me. I knew she knew my words were meant for her.

Sam stayed on Quinn's other side and together we waited out the _fugue_ in silence, lost in our own thoughts. After what felt like hours, but in reality was actually probably only one, Quinn's eyes became slightly clearer, and I _knew_: I knew she regained control of her body. And sure enough, seconds later the Yeerk squirmed its way out of her ear, wriggling across the pillow. Sam immediately scooped it up; his face twisted into an expression of revulsion, and he walked it to the small adjoining bathroom. I smirked in grim satisfaction as I heard the toilet flush.

Sam reentered the room and we both looked down anxiously at Quinn's face. She hadn't said anything, but her eyes were open and she was trembling. After a long, tense moment, she opened her mouth.

"Is- is it-"

"It's dead," Sam said firmly. "Gone. It will never bother you again, Quinn."

Quinn's face broke out in a huge, shaky smile. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she began to laugh, softly at first, but then louder, and Sam and I couldn't help but be drawn into laughter with her. She didn't let go of my hand, but Sam and I collapsed into an awkward three-way hug onto Quinn as she half-laughed, half-cried.

Over my shoulder, I caught sight of Brittany, who was standing silently in the corner, her eyebrows scrunched and an unreadable expression on her face. Shit. I'd been so focused on Quinn and the _fugue_ and my own thoughts that I'd forgotten she was in the room. How could I forget Brittany was in the room?

She didn't say anything, but she turned towards the door. I felt a small wave of panic overtake me, but before I could call out her name, the door opened and Mercedes came bouncing in with Kurt following warily behind her.

"How's my old homegirl?" Mercedes asked, her voice vibrating with energy.

"She's damaged, but alive," Quinn answered weakly as Sam stood back from the bed.

"Oh, Quinn," Mercedes said softly as she came up to the side of the bed. She stroked her hand through Quinn's hair once and then frowned. "You back now?"

Quinn smiled sadly, and I saw her swallow. "Yeah," she answered hoarsely. "And I'm not ever leaving again."

Mercedes barked out a laugh suddenly. "Praise! We're glad to have you back. Sam- you gonna untie these damn straps on my girl, here, or you want her to be restrained forever? She's free now! Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty she is free at last!"

"That was quite possibly the most cliché thing I have ever heard from you, Wheezy," I said incredulously.

"Oh, shut it, Satan, ain't nothin' gonna bring me down right now," Mercedes said, grinning as Sam removed the leather bonds keeping Quinn attached to the bed. "I've got my homegirl back!" She leaned down and squeezed Quinn into an awkward-looking side hug, but Quinn just smiled hugely, and I couldn't help but do the same.

"As touching as this is, we do have to discuss some things," Kurt reminded, speaking up from the foot of the bed, near Brittany. He gave Sam a pointed look, and Sam nodded.

"Right," Sam agreed. "We've put off talking about it for long enough. Now that she's awake-"

"Damn, Sam- the girl _just_ woke up," Mercedes said. "Give her, like, a _second_ to breathe before you go dropping shit on her."

"What shit?" Quinn asked suspiciously.

"We haven't even discussed it ourselves," I pointed out. "Maybe we should decide first and then bring it to Quinn."

Sam nodded again. "Okay, then. Quinn, if you'll excuse us." He waved his hand, indicating for us to follow him out into the hall. Quinn sat in her bed giving us a scrutinizing, confused expression.

"Sure," she said hesitantly.

We all moved out into the hall and once the door was shut and we were a safe distance away, Kurt interrupted the silence.

"Are we seriously doing this again?"

"Doing what again?" Mercedes demanded, giving Kurt a glare.

"Giving someone we barely know the power to completely screw all of us over."

"Quinn isn't someone we barely know," Mercedes defended hotly. "I used to be pretty close to her-"

"-_used_ to be-"

"-and she and Santana were friends for the longest."

"And I dated her for a while," Sam chimed in, wincing as Mercedes shot him a look. "Sorry, just stating facts."

"Those are all true," Kurt acknowledged, "But it all happened ages ago. Quinn is a different person now, and none of us know who that person really is."

"She _has_ changed," I admitted. "But that change can all be blamed on the Yeerks- she joined the Skanks because her parents were ignoring her-"

"-_Theory_-"

"-And," I added, glaring at Kurt for his interruption, "there's still parts of the old Quinn in there. I've seen them."

"But you can't be sure of her behavior."

"So what are you saying, Kurt?" Mercedes demanded. "You don't want her to join?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying- I just don't want a repeat of what happened the last time we let someone we barely know join us," Kurt snapped. "We barely survived that and, honestly, I'd rather not tempt fate, because we've already had too many close calls to mention, and it's only a matter of time before statistics win out over us."

"Understandable," Sam said.

"Look, this isn't like Sebastian," I said, trying to ignore the flashes of pain that flashed across everyone's face upon hearing his name. "Quinn is different. We at least know about her. We may not know exactly who she is right this second, but we have enough history and experience with her to know that she won't go all Marcus Brutus on us, all right?"

"Really? _That's_ the reference you chose?" Kurt muttered. I shrugged.

"Okay, so it should come down to a vote," Sam sighed.

"Hell to the no," Mercedes interjected. "Are any of us really against Quinn joining? I mean, let's just ignore the fact that we could use another _Transformer_ on our side now that Puck is-" she paused, took a breath, and continued, "well, we could use some help. Quinn is the closest thing to that we are going to get, but besides that, if she doesn't join us, what else is she going to do?"

"Watch _Titanic_ marathons and think about what it was like to have two hands?" I suggested darkly.

Mercedes gave me a disapproving look, raising her eyebrow and shaking her head. I smirked at her and she sighed.

"We can't use 'what else are they going to do' as a valid reason," Kurt argued. "We did that with Sebastian- and look how _that_ turned out."

"We can't let our one past mistake stop us from making potentially good decisions," Sam reasoned.

"Then what's the point of making mistakes if you don't learn from them?" Kurt countered.

"This isn't even the same situation," I said, exasperated that we were still arguing. "If she fucks up, we'll just kill her, all right?"

"Easy for _you_ to say," Kurt said with a glare.

I narrowed my eyes. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

He shook his head furiously. "You know what-"

"I'm not going to betray you," Quinn's voice said from nearby. We all turned to look at her as she walked slowly and purposefully down the hall towards us.

"And how do we know?" Kurt challenged.

"Because I hate the Yeerks more than you do," she answered easily. My eyebrows rose. I guess that was a pretty good answer, right? "I was a slave to them. I saw how they work. I saw how horrible they are, how ruthless they are." Her eyes burned with hatred and passion as she continued, "They took my parents. They have no qualms about using them against me- about using Puck against _you_. They'll stop at nothing to make this planet as desolate and barren as their own miserable homeworld. They won't quit until every single human has a Yeerk in their brain, and I'm sorry, I'd rather die than let that happen."

Sam smiled bitterly. "I'm right there with you." Kurt nodded beside him.

"That's good enough for me," Mercedes said, a genuine smile lighting up her face. She looked at me. I shrugged, returning her smile with a smirk of my own. She turned back to Quinn. "Welcome to the _Transformers_, Quinn."

She raised a dubious eyebrow. "You seriously call yourselves that?"

"It was Puck's idea," Brittany said quietly, speaking for the first time. Quinn gave her a curious look, seeing Brittany but not recognizing her.

"Oh," Quinn said softly, her gaze softening at the information. We were all silent for a moment, reflecting back on that first time.

"Well, now that that's solved," Kurt said, trying to brighten the mood, "I guess we should see about making it official."

Sam's face brightened considerably. He was such a kid when it came to this sci-fi shit, and passing on the transforming power was definitely up there on his list of Coolest Things to Do, Ever. "Right," he said, suddenly serious. He rubbed his hands together, like he was plotting something exciting. I rolled my eyes. "Let's do this," he said.

Quinn gave him a look that was less on the excited side and more on the _why are you such a dork_ side, but followed Sam down the hall. Mercedes sidled up beside her, throwing her arm around her and talking happily about how excited she was, and Kurt trailed behind as I hung back with Brittany.

I was silent as I offered her my hand, and she took it hesitantly, avoiding my eyes. I could tell something was bothering her, but I had no idea what it was. I squeezed her hand briefly and she finally looked up from the floor to my eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned. She nodded slightly, but avoided my eyes again. It stung a little. I was about to ask her if I'd done anything, but Sam's voice calling us from down the hall ruined the moment and I couldn't help but be frustrated at him as Brittany and I moved to follow the others.

As we approached Quinn and the others, I let go of Brittany's hand, ignoring the hurt that flashed across her face. I felt guilty- of course I did- but I wanted to tell Quinn myself, on my own terms, about her. I mean, it was a little sudden for Quinn to suddenly discover that not only was I romantically involved with a girl, but oh, hey that girl also happened to be an alien, too. I wasn't ashamed of Brittany- not at all- but I _was_ concerned that Quinn would make some harsh judgments against her without knowing her. At the end of the day, Quinn was still my friend, and I needed her to understand how important Brittany was to me before our relationship came out.

Sam led us to the room where Sugar was keeping the blue box. We hadn't given her the power yet, because she claimed she had some things she needed to tie up as a Yeerk before she abandoned that life. It made me roll my eyes- you'd think, with the way she'd been pressuring us to get the box, she would have had all that shit taken care of so she could make a quick getaway. But I suppose she probably hadn't actually expected us to really get it, so I couldn't exactly blame her for procrastinating.

Sam opened the small glass case near the back of the empty room- inside the case, the blue box rested on a velvet pillow; at least _Sugar_ had watched some spy movies or whatever- and when he turned back towards us, he had the cube in his hand. He handed it to Brittany, the only one who could reactivate it. Brittany began to change, and within seconds she was her normal Andalite self; Quinn stood wide-eyed and gawking at her up close.

"Quinn, meet Britta-Nysp-Ierce, or, as we like to call her- Brittany," Mercedes introduced, and I was slightly impressed that Mercedes managed to pin down Brittany's full Andalite name.

"She's an Andalite?" Quinn asked hesitantly.

_[Pleased to meet you, Quinn Fabray,]_ Brittany said, her tone hard to place. It seemed lacking in its usual enthusiasm, but still polite. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Was Brittany jealous of Quinn? The thought seemed absurd to me, but now that I was thinking hard on it, Brittany had never really met any of my friends outside of the other _Transformers-_ at least, not as herself. Mostly because I didn't exactly have any friends, I only had people I used, and Quinn and I had drifted apart before I met Brittany- and she fit into both categories. I made a mental note to talk to Brittany about it later as I tuned back into the conversation and observed Brittany quickly tapping the blue box in several spots.

After a moment, the box glowed to life in her hands, and we all watched with fascination for a moment as it shone. It seemed almost alive, which made me feel stupid for thinking it, but Brittany had mentioned something about microbes when she had tried explaining to me about how the box worked-

"Woah, woah," Quinn said suddenly, putting her hands up. "You guys are just _giving_ me the power to transform?"

"You're one of us, now, Quinn," Mercedes said gently. "A _Transformer_. That includes the transforming power."

"How- how does it work?"

"Oh, God, can we explain that later?" I said with a roll of my eyes. "I just want to get this over with."

Quinn gave me a good-natured glare, and Mercedes rolled her eyes back at me.

"Good ol' Satan, trust her to ruin an important moment," Mercedes said.

"I didn't ruin it, I'm trying to preserve the sacredness of the power by not getting all tangled up in long-winded explanations," I muttered.

"Can we focus?" Sam asked. He placed his hand on the side of the box.

Mercedes nodded, placing her hand on another side. "I have a good feeling about this."

Kurt was silent, but placed his hand on the cube.

I pressed my hand on the side closest to me, deliberately making my fingers contact Brittany's hand, which was on the bottom, holding the box out to us. The contact made me feel a little closer to her, because I felt like there was a mini void between us with how distant she'd been the past couple of hours.

Quinn took a deep breath and pressed her hand to the top of the box. There was a slight tingle in my hand again, just like when Sebastian got the power, just like when I first got the power. Again it made me remember that first time in the construction site. And then my thoughts drifted to the second time. Only, when I pulled my hand away, I wasn't filled with dread. I felt- well, normal. And just a little proud of our group of rejected Avengers. It was a little silly for me to get sentimental, but I couldn't help but think about how far we had all come together. Sure, we fought, we argued. But we also saved each other's asses more times than I could count. And even when things felt hopeless, I knew they had my back, and I had theirs.

And now Quinn, who had fought her personal battles alone for the last few months, had that. She was now one of us.

I smiled at her, and she smiled coyly back.

Then I looked at Brittany, whose Andalite smile didn't reach her eyes, and felt my stomach drop.

* * *

"Fuck, I never thought a squirrel would be this hard to catch!" I growled as I glared at the wretched beast perched on a tree branch. It sat there looking down at me, almost giving me a smug look, and I swore when I caught that little monster I was going to-

"Allow me," Brittany offered as she stepped forward. She placed her hand on the tree trunk and waited. Then, slowly, the squirrel skittered its way down the trunk and stopped before her hand. It sniffed her hand delicately with its little nose, and as Brittany opened her palm, offering it to the small rodent, I watched in utter disbelief as it crawled onto her hand with no hesitation.

"You have got to be kidding me," Quinn muttered as Brittany turned to us with a smirk, holding out the squirrel to Quinn.

After we'd explained how the transforming power worked to Quinn- two hours, skin-tight clothes (because let's face it, she needed lots of practice before she was going to be ready to transform jackets and stuff), acquiring the animals, yadda yadda- she was all too eager to try it. So Mercedes, Brittany and I escorted Quinn aboveground to the huge expanse of the Motta Mansion to look for something she could acquire and transform into. The first thing we'd spotted was a squirrel, but it was damn near impossible to catch, and we'd spent at least thirty minutes chasing it around the tree like a bunch of morons.

Because all along all we needed was Brittany to work her magic.

I gave her a glare and she shrugged.

Quinn reached out carefully with her left hand and pressed her fingertips to the squirrel's back, then looked at Mercedes. "Now what?"

"Focus on the squirrel. Think about its tail, the feel of it under your fingers. Think of it becoming part of you."

"Wanky," I mumbled and Quinn cracked one eye open to shoot me an annoyed look.

"Not helping."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Focus."

"I _am_ focusing-"

"Ignore her," Mercedes said gently, scowling at me. Quinn closed her eyes obediently while I smirked at them. After a moment, Mercedes told her she could stop, and Quinn broke contact with the squirrel, who had grown completely still in Brittany's hand.

"Is it dead?" Quinn asked, sounding slightly panicked. I laughed.

"No, most animals go into a trance when you acquire them. It's ultra-handy for those animals that want to tear your throat out," I said snidely.

As if on cue, the squirrel turned its head and scampered up Brittany's arm, perching on her shoulder. In the next instant it had jumped from her shoulder to the tree trunk and scampered up and away. Brittany giggled, waving good-bye to the squirrel, and I felt my heart soften with affection at her kindness. I looked at Quinn, who was rolling her eyes, and instantly my stomach dropped and I was on the defensive.

"Well, Quinn, let's get out from the open and give it a try," Mercedes said, already beginning to walk towards one of the random buildings on the grounds. When we entered the building, we quickly discovered that it was a gym, of sorts. Random exercise machines lined the room, including treadmills, ellipticals, stair-climbers, rowing machines- seriously?

"Does she even _use_ any of this stuff?" I asked as I scanned the equipment. "Like, there's literally enough workout equipment in here to satisfy the exercise needs of every wrestler in the WWE."

Mercedes shrugged. "Like I know." She turned to Quinn. "Okay. You ready?" At Quinn's confident nod, she added, "Let's do it, then. Close your eyes and think about the squirrel. Think about _becoming_ the squirrel."

"Got it," Quinn muttered, her eyes sliding closed. Her eyebrows furrowed and I watched as she gradually began to change and Mercedes coached her through it.

"Okay, now don't freak out, let the changes happen. It's not going to hurt, even though it feels like it should- just keep the process going until-"

_[Woah!]_ Quinn, now fully squirrel, said as she opened her beady little eyes. _[Can you guys hear me?]_

"Unfortunately," I teased.

"Now, focus, Quinn, because the squirrel brain is going to-"

_[Ahh!]_ Quinn yelled, and she scampered away quickly, darting underneath a piece of machinery.

"So much for focusing," I laughed. I stepped closer to where she was hiding, and laughed again as she darted away and under another piece of machinery, then leaped up the _Bowflex_ and clawed her way unsteadily to the top of it. She was trembling with fear, her tail was shaking, and I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

"Santana, leave her alone." Mercedes glared at me and approached Quinn slowly. "It's okay," she cooed. "Girl, get a hold of yourself."

After a moment, the squirrel shook its head, and Quinn spoke_. […woah. That was- different. I wasn't expecting the squirrel to be so strong.]_

"Sorry, we should've prepared you better," Mercedes said sheepishly.

"Yeah, rodents are generally pretty terrified," I said with a shrug, thinking about my own mouse form and how panicky it was.

_[It's kind of weird, isn't it? Controlling the animal's mind?]_

"I guess," I said, trying to figure out where she was going with her argument.

_[Kind of reminds me of what Yeerks do.]_

Oh.

"Q, it's nothing _like_ that. It's not like we invaded the actual animal and took it over. It's our _own body_, only changed into something else. Just the _instincts_ of the animal come through, that's _all_," I said, annoyed that she was trying to compare transforming to parasitism. They were literally nothing alike.

_[I don't know- it seems kind of like creating a new animal and then controlling it.]_

"But it's still our own body."

_[Yeah, that's what the Yeerks thought, too,] _Quinn said bitterly.

"So if you don't like it, then don't transform," I spat, done with the conversation. She was being ridiculous. Like, I got that she was fragile, and had just come off of being infested, so she was obviously resentful towards anything that was even remotely similar to her previous experience, but _come on_.

_[I wasn't saying that,]_ Quinn shot back_. [I was just wondering if you guys ever felt like that.]_

"No."

"I mean- I guess _I_ kind of have before," Mercedes said softly. "But Santana's right, too. It's still my own body, and the animal instincts are just instincts, it's not like a real animal or whatever. So." She shrugged helplessly.

Quinn was silent. She turned around and leapt from the top of the _Bowflex_ machine to a pull-up bar located next it. Then she jumped down to the control panel of a treadmill, and again down to the carpet.

_[This _is_ pretty cool,]_ she said enthusiastically. She ran around the room playing squirrel for a little bit while Mercedes watched and laughed and I stood, acutely aware of Brittany's tense form beside me. After ten minutes, Quinn came to a stop between Mercedes and me and sat on her little squirrel haunches. _[Okay, so to change back I just do the same thing, right? Focus on my human body?]_

"Right," Mercedes agreed, turning to look at me. We shared a concerned glance. This was the moment we'd been waiting for- to see if Quinn's hand would be restored. Brittany had assured us that it would be, but transforming never worked the same for every situation.

_[Well, here goes nothing.]_

The first thing that changed was Quinn's size. She grew until she was a squirrel the size of a small dog. Then her choppy, short blonde hair sprouted, and she looked like a squirrel wearing a wig, prompting a nervous laugh from Mercedes and me. Brittany watched in silence, and I felt increasingly concerned with how withdrawn she was becoming, but I resolved to worry about it later as I focused on Quinn, who was almost back to normal.

My gaze shifted down to Quinn's right hand, and I felt like I was watching that part in _Beauty & the Beast_ where the Beast's paw changes into a human hand at the end. Because Quinn's hand was completely restored and as good as new.

Quinn held it up and looked at it, and I saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. I mean, I couldn't imagine what it was like to have a hand, and then lose it, and then suddenly have it again. I really didn't want to imagine it, either. But I couldn't help but smile. Quinn was my friend, and I was genuinely happy for her, happy that her hand had been healed.

"Praise," Mercedes breathed, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes- there's only so much corniness I can take, you know? Quinn released a watery laugh, reaching up with her new hand to wipe her eyes- then, realizing what she'd done, she laughed again.

"Well, so much for my plan to buy you a hook for Christmas," I said with a smirk.

Quinn reached out with her new hand and shoved me, but she had a huge grin on her face, and her hazel eyes, which were now more brown than green, sparkled.

"Awesome," Mercedes mumbled.

I nodded. "I'm glad miracles happen, and you lost your transforming virginity and all. But you're no good fighting the Yeerks as a squirrel, Q. It's time to get you something fierce."

Quinn smirked at me, raising her eyebrow in challenge. "Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?"

"I think it's time we took a trip to the zoo."

* * *

"This is a bad idea, you guys," Mercedes whispered to us as we hid behind a huge red-striped tent.

"No way, this is _awesome_," I argued, keeping my voice down to avoid detection. "We could get some serious rare avatars here."

"I don't know-"

"Don't worry, Mercedes," Quinn reassured her in a quiet voice. "We can transform and look around. We'll acquire what we need to and leave."

Mercedes sighed. "Okay, but _any_ trouble and we peace out of this place."

"Deal," I breathed. Quinn and I looked at each other with a sly smirk. I focused on Lord Tubbington. Mercedes began to change into her fluffy white cat. Quinn went squirrel. And Brittany-

_[You're a goat?]_ Quinn demanded. _[Seriously, Brittany? You don't have anything less conspicuous than that?]_

I tried to think of a defense, but I had to agree with Quinn. A goat was pretty conspicuous.

_[It's the circus,]_ Brittany said sadly. _[I thought that-]_

_[Clearly you don't know a thing about circuses,]_ Quinn said. _[Goats don't just wander around-]_

_[Hey, lay off,]_ I said seriously.

_[Yeah, don't mess with Santana's girl, she'll go all "Lima Heights,"]_ Mercedes laughed. I swallowed, feeling my stomach twist in anxiety at Mercedes' statement. Quinn, however, didn't comment.

_[Whatever, let's just do this,]_ I said, exasperated. I loped off at a steady pace, keeping my eyes open for the menagerie, which is where I was sure the animals would be kept.

We had originally been on our way to the zoo when we spied the huge circus tents. It wasn't the _actual_ circus that came to town every year- _J.P. Adams & Son _came earlier in the spring, and they were a much bigger operation. Not that I ever even went to the circus, it was totally not my thing. This place was a lot dinkier, only consisted of a few tents and wagons, and was more like a specialized sideshow than an actual full circus. Several fliers advertised crazy things like mermaids and gigantic man-sized scorpions and other ridiculous shit. Totally B-grade.

We followed the signs that boasted "ferocious, exotic and rare animals" all the way to a huge tent that I guess was their equivalent of a menagerie. Posted outside the tent entrance was a sign that read "Carl Howell's Savage Safari" and I rolled my eyes at the absolute _brilliance_ of it. No wonder this place was so derelict- it obviously suffered from a lack of creativity. That didn't stop the man posted outside of the tent- I assumed it was Carl himself, since his face matched the profile of the man on the flier- from talking up the "safari" like it rivaled the splendor of the Taj Mahal. Carl was yammering on and on, and his voice was smooth enough to talk Rachel Man-Hands into selling her god-awful reindeer sweater. Several patrons were already digging into their wallets or purses, and I knew we had to act fast.

"For five dollars- just five dollars, ladies and gents- I promise you, you will feast your eyes on the most splendific-"

_[Is that even a word?]_ I wondered.

_[Nope,]_ Quinn said flatly.

"-the most ferocious, the most exotic, the most mesmerizing, the most-"

_[He just doesn't stop, does he?]_

_[Doesn't seem that way.]_

_[I would very much like to see these animals,]_ Brittany said, obviously enraptured. I smiled despite myself at her enthusiasm.

"-will not believe your eyes, ladies and gents! You'll wonder if you're dreaming, once you lay your peepers on my creatures!"

_[…I'm not really sure if I want to say _wanky_, or-]_

_[Just- stop. Ugh.]_

"Step right up! Five dollars! That's right, chum, only five- to witness the most shocking critters alive!"

If I was human I would've slapped my forehead.

_[Ughhhh. I'm so tired of hearing him squawk. Can we just go in now?]_ Mercedes groaned. She had a delicate white paw covering her cat eyes and I shook my head.

_[Yeah, let's go. If I hear one more bad circus catch-]_

"These animals are unbelievable, folks! Simply unbelievable! And will be revealed to you for only five dollars!"

I rolled my feline eyes. This guy had no clue what it was like to witness unbelievable animals, and whatever he _thought_ "unbelievable animals" were, they definitely weren't behind that tent flap. But he had several people standing before him, listening to his hot air with wide, enraptured eyes and open mouths.

_[I hate circuses,]_ I commented irritably.

_[Oh,]_ Brittany said, her tone dejected. It took me a moment to realize- _shit_, I felt so stupid. Brittany wanted to be a _clown_, and here I was basically saying- _ugh_, what the fuck is wrong with me? I was definitely only making things between us worse.

_[Okay, I think we should go _now_,]_ Mercedes said suddenly. _[Before he starts letting people in.]_ She crept quickly along the edge of the tent, staying in the shadows. It had just started to get dark out, so she crawled through the flaps silently, slipping in unseen. Quinn scurried in right behind her. I skulked after them, my huge stomach scraping the ground, and, not for the first time, I wished that Lord Tubbington had gone on a diet before I acquired him. I also wondered if there was any way I could alter his obese state through transforming. There had to be a way, right? I'd have to ask Brittany later.

I cringed as I thought of Brittany. She wouldn't be able to sneak in the tent as a goat. Again she was being left out. I sighed to myself as I slid into the tent unnoticed by the crowd, who was still listening to the sneaky up-talk of Carl Howell. His voice was muffled, but I could still hear him through the flaps.

Once inside, we looked around. The tent wasn't much brighter inside; there were only a few tiki torches lit- _oh, the mystery_- but we found our way around easy enough. There were several too-small cages lined up in a row and we inspected each one as we made our way down through the tent.

There was a totally thinned out Komodo dragon, a small pen with a platypus that looked miserable and wilted, a peacock, a hyena…

_ [What is so unbelievable about these animals_?] I demanded, outraged. I was mostly angry at the poor condition of the animals, and not actually angry about the absolute normalness of them. I mean, it's not like I actually paid five dollars or anything. But what if I _had_?

_[Quinn, is anything jumping out at you?]_ Mercedes asked as we moved deeper into the tent.

_[Obviously _not_, they can barely stand,]_ I muttered, irrationally angry at Mercedes' bad pun.

_[This pisses me off_,] Quinn agreed.

_[So… wanna do something about it, Q?]_ I asked with a challenging, catty grin.

She paused on her hind legs and turned her squirrel face towards me. _[If you're thinking what I think you're thinking-]_

_[Oh, I most definitely _am_.]_ I flicked my tail playfully. _[I think we should teach Carl Howell a little lesson. But first, let's finish up with these guys.]_ I lifted my paw to gesture to the cages, and we strolled down the remainder of the aisle. I didn't think that we were going to find anything exciting for Quinn, but as we followed the path that led towards the exit at the back of the tent, we came across the last cage.

_[Wow,]_ I said. I sat down and stared into the cage. _[This must be what meeting your ancestors feels like.]_

_ [He's beautiful,]_ Quinn said reverently.

We sat staring up at a male, full-grown, white lion. He was lying lazily in his cage, and was skinnier than he should've been, but even still, he looked incredibly majestic.

_[He's like the Lion of Judah,]_ Mercedes said and I rolled my eyes.

_[I was thinking more like Aslan,]_ Quinn said wryly. _[But that fits, too, I guess.]_

_[Get him, Q,]_ I said. _[He suits you.]_ I glanced at Mercedes. It was kind of weird that the last person who'd joined our group had also chosen a lion as his avatar- but I figured if anyone was going to redeem the animal, it was Quinn.

_[Okay,]_ she said at last_. [I'm going to creep around behind the cage. Keep a look out, will you?]_

_[Sure thing,]_ I said. I trotted over to the corner of the cage and sat down, watching the path for approaching people. My superb cat hearing picked up the faint sound of Quinn transforming- you know, the crunching of her bones and what-not.

I waited patiently, listening to Quinn's footsteps. Then it was silent. I could still almost hear Carl in the distance- boy, he really didn't shut up- and I wondered what Brittany was doing, if she'd been spotted, if she was okay-

"Santana," Quinn hissed.

_[What?]_ I started, surprised from my thoughts of Brittany and a little angry that she had interrupted them.

"I need your assistance for a moment."

I turned and padded around to the back of the cage-wagon, looking almost bored._ [Yes?]_

"I have to _touch_ the lion to acquire him, right?"

_[Obviously.]_ I rolled my eyes. We'd been over this, so why was she- _[Hold up.]_ I looked in the cage. The lion was stretched out in the center of it, nowhere near the edge. Nowhere near touching distance.

She needed my assistance for _what_?

Suddenly, it clicked.

_[No,]_ I said, shaking my feline head. _[No fucking way.]_

"Santana, how else is he going to come closer?"

_[I'm not going in that cage, Q! Have you seen how fat the Lord of Blubber is? I'd be nothing but a purrrfect _snack_ for Kimba in there! I'd be the literal definition of "Meow Mix"!]_

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic, S. I know how big Lord Tubbington is, and even if I didn't, I'm looking at an exact copy of him right now."

_[Good, then you know why I won't be going in that cage.]_

Quinn gave me a pointed look, her eyebrow cocked. I felt my resolve crumbling.

_[Q,]_ I whined. _[I'm not even sure if I can fit through the bars!]_

"You definitely can."

_[Uggghhh. Okay, but if I die, you'd better at least avenge me with a new Lion _rug_,]_ I grumbled. Quinn smirked at me, and I shook my head again as I leapt up onto the edge of the wagon that held the cage. I peered in through the bars- Quinn was right, I would definitely fit- and scrutinized Leo, who was still lying on his side in the cage, bored. He hadn't noticed me yet, which was kind of impossible. I knew he could smell me- I could certainly smell him. Which meant something else- he'd noticed me, but he just didn't care.

Or he was waiting for me to get closer so he could have his own personal Fancy Feast. A glint caught my eye and I saw, for the first time, the nameplate attached to the wagon. I couldn't stop the eye-roll from coming as I read what it said.

_[His name is _Alex_?]_ I asked incredulously, with obvious disdain. _[How fucking blatant are these people?]_

_[Totally unoriginal,]_ Mercedes agreed from down the path.

Quinn shrugged nearby. "Maybe they just really liked the movie."

I released a heavy cat breath and carefully inched my way through the bars, not taking my eyes off of Alex, who looked like he didn't give two fucks about me. I crept closer, every hair on my body standing on end. Lord T did not like Alex, not a bit- and it took all the control I had to force my steps in the direction of Alex's prone body when every instinct was telling me to bolt.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Alex slid his great big shaggy head across the cage to look at me. I froze. His intelligent eyes were a crystalline blue color and I had to admit that they were striking. He watched me as I stood there staring dumbly at him. I could almost see the thoughts passing behind his eyes as he regarded my presence with careless interest. I gulped and moved closer, ready to flee the second any shit went down. I could practically hear Quinn holding her breath beside the cage.

Finally, after long, agonizingly tense moments, I reached Alex. I had no idea how to get him to move, though. That was the point, right? To get him closer to the edge of the cage? I somehow had to get him to chase me. Maybe if I just ran?

On a whim, I suddenly bolted, but as I slid through the bars, I looked behind me. Alex was still lying in the center of the cage, looking at me with obvious disinterest. He was clearly not amused with my antics.

"Well, that plan failed," Quinn laughed.

_[Duh,]_ I snapped. I strutted, more boldly, back into the cage. I had another idea, but I definitely did not want to execute it. It was going to end in a very pissed-off Alex, but we were running out of time and I needed to lure him to the edge of the cage. I flexed the claws in my left paw and took a deep breath. Then, quickly, I swiped my paw at Alex's nose, scratching him.

The reaction was instantaneous.

Alex let loose a roar in pain and surprise, already springing to his feet. The sound was deafening considering I was literally inches from his mouth, and I would've pissed myself if I wasn't so focused on peacing the fuck up out of there.

"ReeeeOWWWRR!" I screamed as I hauled butt to the edge of the cage. _[Sorry!]_ I told Alex. He was probably confused as fuck about why a tiny (or not so tiny, I mean, I was kind of gelatinous) cat would swat at him and then think it could get away but-

_[Aaaagh!]_ I cried out in pain, and it took me a second to realize that Alex had managed to grab my tail in his mouth. _[Fuck! Quinn! Now would be a great time for a fucking TRANCE!]_ I screamed as I dug my front nails into the bottom of the cage to resist the backwards pull from Alex's mouth.

Alex was still growling, my cat mouth was screaming, and I was flailing in terror, trying to yank myself out of his grasp.

_[Santana!]_ Mercedes cried.

_[Oh, God! This is it! I'm about to be eaten by Lambert! Ahhhh!] _I tugged some more and was surprised when I shot forward, released from Alex's teeth. I slammed into a bar of the cage but quickly scrambled my way out, landing in an undignified, panting heap on the ground, a swirl of dust rising around me. I clawed up to my feet, breathing hard and turning my head everywhere in a panic, ensuring I was safe. I looked up to see Quinn with her eyes squeezed closed, her hand stretched out and pressed to Alex's huge front paw. Alex was on his stomach, looking peaceful and asleep. I glared and hissed at him, and then I noticed Mercedes.

She was on her back, her cat paws kicking into the air as she rolled with amusement. The sound of her laughter poured into my brain and I flattened my ears against my skull and collected myself, turning my glare at her.

_[Oh- oh my goodness,]_ she cackled. _[You should have seen yourself! When Alex- when he-]_ She broke off into more peals of laughter and I puffed my chest out, my fur fluffing up and making me seem intimidating.

_[Yeah, oh- _sooo funny_, Santana almost _died_,] _I grouched. _[Fucking hilarious.]_

_[You did not almost die,]_ Mercedes chuckled. _[Quinn was on that shit.]_

_[Oh yeah?]_ I flicked my tail around in front of me. The end of it was mangled and bloody and part of it hung limply, snapped_. [Tell that to my tail.]_

Mercedes only laughed harder. I growled angrily and then pounced on her.

_ [Woah! Hell to the naw! Hold the fuck up!]_

We wrestled good-naturedly, hissing at each other for a few moments before Quinn's voice reached our ears.

"Are you two quite done? Because I'm ready to get out of here."

I turned away from Mercedes, sticking my nose up in the air and padding daintily away. I sat down a few feet from her and licked the back of my paw delicately.

"Oh get over it, Santana," Quinn sighed, but I could hear the smile in her voice. I didn't say anything, and she sighed again, more irritably, but it was all in fun. I knew Quinn. "Look, I'm sorry about your tail, all right?"

I turned my ear towards her.

_[I'm sorry, too,]_ Mercedes half-laughed.

_[Well then I forgive you.]_ I rose to my feet and turned to them. _[Now let's teach Carl a lesson and be done with this hellhole.]_

Quinn smirked. "My thoughts, exactly."

* * *

I tensed with anticipation as I snuck into position behind the opening to the tent. Carl was still talking and building up his sad collection of animals, and I was actually completely baffled at how he managed to prattle on for so long. His crowd had probably fallen down dead from boredom or exploded from anticipation of what they would find behind the tent flaps.

I had re-transformed to cheetah. I twitched my tail in giddy eagerness for the prank Quinn and I were about to pull. I silently asked her if she was ready, and at her favorable response, I stealthily moved through the flaps of the tent and behind Carl.

I opened my mouth, baring my teeth and trying not to outright laugh at the comically terrified expressions of the crowd once they spotted me. Their eyes were wide and most of them began screaming the instant they recognized that I did not have a leash or anything restraining me from ripping them all to shreds. All in all, it was pretty satisfying watching them panic.

Realistically, cheetahs are pretty small compared to other big cats- but still, would you want to meet a cheetah on the street? Probably not. You'd still get fucked up.

It took Carl a few seconds to realize his crowd had been frightened into fleeing, and he turned around, his expression that of someone who was truly flabbergasted.

"What-?" he asked, stunned. His eyes fell to me, and his face altered into an expression of extreme rage. I kind of felt like I was watching a cartoon- Carl's face grew red, and I was just waiting for the steam to come shooting out of his ears. I offered him a catty grin, which only infuriated him further.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He screamed at me. I had to hand it to the guy- he was braver than the average idiot, standing before a fucking _cheetah_ and having the audacity to _yell_ at it. I raised one delicate cheetah eyebrow at him, turned around gracefully, and slinked into the tent. Once through the flaps, I quickly darted behind a wagon and hid in the shadows.

"Wait!" he called after me, enraged. He stormed in through the flaps, and I'm not gonna lie, I was impressed. Following a cheetah into a dark tent? Not the brightest move, Dude.

He realized his mistake when he met The Lion Quinn.

She stepped forward gracefully on the path towards Carl, and I have to admit that even I was impressed with her form. Alex was skinny and his coat was dull and ratty. But Quinn's copy was nothing like that. Her white coat shone in the tiki torchlight, and her mane was full and luxurious. She exuded power and confidence, and I couldn't help but think of how different her lion presence was compared to Sebastian's. Her aura was completely different. It was like comparing Scar to Mufasa.

When Quinn let loose her own roar, it had all of the animals in the tent, including Alex, working themselves into a frenzy. They were all hooting and screeching and roaring and causing such a commotion, it made Carl even angrier.

"_Alex_?! What the fuck are you doing out of your cage? You'd better get back in there before I-"

_[No, I don't think so,]_ Quinn said smugly, and faster than Carl could respond, Quinn reared up onto her hind legs and slammed her huge front paws onto Carl's shoulders, pushing him back against a cage and pinning him there with her weight. She got up close and personal, her nose almost touching his, and lifted her top lip, baring her teeth.

Carl's face went pale, and I could see him shaking. I laughed silently from the shadows as Quinn spoke to him.

_[Carl, you don't seem like you take very good care of your animals,]_ Quinn said casually.

"Who said that?" he demanded wildly. "Am I dreaming?"

_[Nope, I'm afraid not,]_ I said, stepping gracefully from the shadows and sitting down calmly in Carl's line of sight. His eyes grew even more fearful.

"What's going on? Is this a joke?!"

_[No joke,]_ Quinn said sweetly, but with just enough of an edge to let Carl know that she meant what she said. _[We're from the Big Cats' Ethical Treatment and Handling Coalition.]_

_[But you can call us B.E.T.H.,]_ I interjected casually. Quinn nodded her big lion head.

_[You see, Carl- we've noticed that you haven't been treating Alex very well.]_

_ [Not at all, actually.]_

_ [And that makes us angry, Carl.]_

_ [Very angry.]_

"But… they're _my_ animals," Carl protested.

Quinn turned to look at me, and I could almost see her disbelieving expression in her lion face.

_[Is this guy serious?]_ she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders in a very uncheetah-like manner_. [He's about to find out what serious is.]_

Quinn grinned, baring her lion teeth, and I almost laughed at the sight. She turned her head back to Carl, opening her mouth and showing him just how huge it was. Carl cowered, and I slinked closer, delicately displaying my claws.

_[Carl, I would really hate to have any problems here, so I'm going to need you to _listen_,]_ she said menacingly. She punctuated her words with her long claws digging into Carl's shoulders.

Carl gasped and placed his hands on top of Quinn's thick, powerful forearms. But there was no way his puny human grip was going to overpower Quinn's sheer weight pressed against him. "I'm- I'm listening," he stammered. "I'm listening very carefully."

_[Good,]_ Quinn said. She didn't lessen the pressure of her claws, and I took small pleasure from watching Carl squirm beneath her_. [I'm going to need you to get Alex a bigger cage. He needs more food, and obvious medical attention.]_

"O-okay," Carl whimpered.

_[If you're not sure how to properly care for Alex, there's plenty of books on the subject. If you are unable to care for him, there's probably a nice reserve or zoo you can donate him to,]_ I chimed in, stretching my front legs out before me lazily.

_[Right. But I _promise_ you-]_ Quinn pressed her claws into Carl's shoulders further and Carl cried out in pain. _[I'll be watching. And if you don't improve the condition of this scumbag piece of shit menagerie, I'll personally return to disembowel you. Got it?]_

Carl nodded frantically.

_[Good. I'm glad you understand, Carl,]_ Quinn said sweetly. She let go of his shoulders and returned to all fours. She looked at me and I smiled to myself. That was my cue.

_[Carl, are you a good runner?]_

"N-n-no, not really," He stuttered, shaking so badly I was surprised he was even still standing.

_ [I'll bet you are,]_ I said, and then I pounced.

Carl screamed, scrambling to get away from me. He staggered, but then he was back on his feet and running. Quinn and I gave chase half-heartedly, not really intending to catch him. Both of us laughed as we came to a stop just outside the tent, watching as Carl fled into the darkness of the night. Quinn and I shared a look, which only made us burst out laughing again, and I couldn't believe how wonderful it felt to have my best friend back. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed her all these many months. Tonight had only proven to me that, despite being separated for a while, Quinn and I still _got_ each other. And that was a great feeling, you know?

Mercedes came padding up to us, still in cat form. _[A little harsh, don't you think?]_ She said, but she didn't sound too troubled.

_[That sleazebag deserved it,]_ Quinn said angrily.

_[Totally,]_ I agreed.

_[Well now that you two have had your fun, let's find Brittany and get out of here.]_

Oh, fuck.

Brittany.

* * *

Thankfully, it was a lot easier to find Brittany than I had feared. There was a huge commotion of people running, but not from the direction of the menagerie, where we had come from. Somehow, I just knew Brittany was involved.

We found her near the biggest tent. It wasn't exactly a big-top, but it was this rundown freakshow's equivalent to it. The flier showed clowns, and my heart tightened painfully at the thought. Of course she was here.

What I didn't expect was for her to be in her natural form.

_[Brittany, what are you doing?]_ I demanded angrily. She had totally just blown her cover. I wasn't so much mad at her for _that_- I was mostly scared that she had put herself in unnecessary danger. What if a Yeerk had spotted her? What if she'd been captured? I felt my anger rising, spurred on by fear.

_[It's okay, San,]_ she said meekly, taken aback by my anger.

_[What happened?]_ Quinn demanded, her tone just as angry as mine. Though her anger wasn't out of concern for Brittany, like mine was.

_[I simply wished to view the performance,]_ Brittany told us, sounding wounded. _[However, as I was transitioning, I was spotted by some young humans. I was startled, and couldn't change, but they approached me, claiming that I was a "pokey man" and that they needed to catch me, and train me.]_

It took me a second to figure out what she had said.

_[Whaaaat,]_ Mercedes laughed.

Quinn, back to squirrel, rolled her eyes. _[That's a great story, but we really need to go.]_

I was about to agree with the second part of her statement when an angry voice interrupted us.

"Andalite!"

I turned to find an enraged Controller standing with his hands balled into fists. I didn't know what he thought he was accomplishing in yelling it. He was completely unarmed, and even if he was, he still stood zero chance against any Andalite. Especially one as swift and smart as Brittany. We all stood, shocked into inaction for a brief moment.

Then total chaos ensued.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!

Bullets whizzed by my head and my first instinct was to panic. Voices were screaming into the night. In the distance I heard an elephant- I swear to God, an actual elephant; I didn't even think the place had one, but I guess it did- and more shots, but I was out of there!

_[What the fuck?!]_ I yelled as I ran between tents, Quinn and Mercedes close behind me. People were running everywhere. Bullets were flying. The ground was shaking from _who-knows-what._ _[Who's shooting at us?!]_

_[Who knows! Keep running!]_ Quinn said as she scampered behind me.

_[Wait- Brittany!]_ I called. I turned, relieved when I saw her running along behind us.

We tore around a tent, and through another one, and then we were off of the circus grounds, the shots and screaming voices dying off behind us as we made it to the nearby tree line.

Moments later we were up in the air, laughing giddily at having once again escaped an awful fate.

_[That was too close!]_ Mercedes giggled. We were all on an adrenaline high and feeling pretty good about ourselves- we'd gotten Quinn an avatar, terrorized Carl for the good of Cat-kind, and managed to evade capture. Better than most missions, to be honest.

_ [Is it always like that with you guys?]_ Quinn asked, her voice light and excited. She was a bald eagle that I guess she had acquired from the circus. Probably while I was almost killed by Alex. It wouldn't surprise me.

_[Pretty much,]_ I laughed. _[Welcome to the team.]_

_[Awesome,]_ she said, enthused.

We flew home in high spirits. Well, mostly. Because despite how good I felt about our accomplishment, there were some things that didn't go unnoticed by me.

Like Brittany's total silence.

* * *

**Uh-ohhh. Tension! Don't worry, it won't last long. :X**

**Most under-developed friendship in _Glee-_ Quinn and Mercedes. Ugh, I loved that friendship _so hard_, WHYYYY IS IT GONE.**

**Next chapter will also be Quinn-heavy as we get into her first mission and a little unexpected transforming trouble. There will also be some more UHT action, so stay tuned! :D**

**As per usual, review if you feel like it, but if not, then don't. I do love hearing from you guys, so don't you dare think otherwise! But I also understand that sometimes reviewing is redundant, lol. In any case, FOLLOW YOUR HEART! **

**See all you pals next week! :D **

**And remember- Brittana is always on!**

**~'`~'`~**

**_There are also songs about the CIRCUS! This egg is sunny-side up!_ ~ Figgins. _J.P. Adams & Son _is of COURSE a subtle reference to one of my favorite stories, _The Knife-Thrower's Daughter_, by the legendary JJ- and if you haven't read it, then WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?


	21. Besties

**Sorrryyyyy for being late. This chapter has been done for days, but I didn't have internet to post it because I was out of town. :'(**

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, favorited, lurked, hit it and quit it, etc. 'Preciatecha!**

**I apologize for there not being much advancement of the **_**exciting**_** plot in this chapter. I was trying to do this weird thing called character development, perhaps you've heard of it? I know it's strange because **_**Glee**_** doesn't bother itself with it, but… pretty much every chapter after this one is going to be action-packed, so don't worry. (I'm sure you weren't. ;)**

**Okay, I'm shutting up.**

**Happy reading! :D~**

* * *

"Wait- you guys actually managed to pull that off and escape without burning the whole place down?" Kurt asked, his eyebrow cocked in disbelief.

I shrugged. "Well, I don't know about the place not burning down…" I gave Quinn a sly look and we both laughed. We had just finished recounting our adventure, in all its glory, to Sam and Kurt. We were still on kind of a high, and it only made us more enthusiastic during the re-telling. Our positive mood was spreading to the boys, and it was nice to see everyone in such good spirits for a change.

Sam shook his head in disapproval, but he was smiling. "That could've turned out bad. Still- I'm glad you found an avatar, Quinn."

I patted her on the shoulder and she smiled, nodding her agreement with Sam's sentiment.

"Now that Quinn has an avatar, we need to figure out what's next for us," Sam continued. "We have the blue box."

"Yeah, and that's been our mission since the oatmeal days," Mercedes said wistfully.

Quinn opened her mouth, but I cut her off with, "Don't even ask." She closed her mouth and gave me a sarcastic look. I smirked at her.

"I'm all for lying low for a while," Kurt offered. "We've been running non-stop since Puck got captured."

"True," Sam agreed with a slow nod. "But the Yeerks aren't stopping. We have the blue box now, and we may be losing Sugar soon, so we need to get a new lead on something before we do."

"What about the above-ground Yeerk Pool?" I said. "That place has got to be close to being finished, right? I mean, it's been weeks. And let's face it; if that place goes up, it's going to be a lot harder to stop the Yeerks."

"Right," Quinn chimed in. "The way they have it set up, the Yeerks can literally infest every person who goes to the park."

"You know a lot about it?" Kurt asked disbelievingly.

Quinn shrugged. "Not a lot, but I heard bits and pieces. I haven't been there or anything."

"Do you remember anything else about any Yeerk plans?" Sam asked gently.

Quinn frowned. "No, I- I was only a host for a few days-" she paused, searching her thoughts. She shook her head back and forth slowly, her hazel eyes focused on something in the distance. Then she snapped her eyes back to Sam. "They did mention something about a plan to infest someone famous next week. Like, I guess there's a concert coming to town?"

"Shit, what if it's like, Justin Bieber or something?" I joked. "We're done for if they infest him!"

Everyone rolled their eyes.

_[We should concentrate on the Pool, since that's the most pressing issue,]_ Brittany said softly in our minds. Sam nodded in agreement and I traced my eyes longingly over Brittany's features. Her expression gave nothing away and I had to remember to talk to her about Quinn once we were done making plans for our next mission.

I tuned back into the conversation and listened as Quinn made some suggestions.

"I think we should definitely scope the place out first, learn the layout."

"We can't go in there blind," Sam approved with a smile, obviously liking Quinn's strategy because let's be real, it was similar to what he would have done. "Quinn, you probably will be the most knowledgeable about the place, so I think you should go. And-"

"Santana can come with me," Quinn interjected with a smirk. I blinked in surprise, but shrugged. I guess that made sense.

"Sure, Q, I'll grace you with my companionship."

"Excellent. We can leave in the morning," Quinn said.

_[I'll go, too,]_ Brittany said quickly.

Quinn looked at her with a critical expression. Her eyebrow was raised curiously, but she seemed more suspicious than anything. "Brittany, as grateful as I am to you for volunteering to come with us, I don't think having an Andalite tag along is exactly what we need. We're trying to stay low profile, here."

Did she just-

"Good point," Kurt agreed.

"So we'll just have to be extra careful, then," I said, raising my voice only slightly to show that I was not to be argued with. Brittany turned her stalk eye to me, but didn't say anything. Quinn looked like she wanted to argue, but thankfully, she didn't comment, and Sam, sensing the tension, admitted that the three of us would be good together because we would watch each other's backs.

After the mission talk, Burt came in to announce that dinner was ready, and we all scrambled into the kitchen. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I was scarfing down the pizza rolls that Burt had prepared. We all stood around eating off paper plates, talking and laughing. It felt kind of awesome. Everyone's spirits were lifted, and I wondered if it had to do with Quinn being around, or just the hope we all felt because we were finally _succeeding_ in something. I mean- we had gotten the blue box. We'd saved Quinn, even though technically that was kind of a mini-failure because we'd really planned to save Puck. I wasn't resentful, though. Quinn was more than just _my_ friend, and she was a strong addition to the team, regardless.

And that was another thing we'd succeeded in. We'd added a member to our team.

I wondered as I wolfed down macaroni and cheese if we would add more people. The more we had, the stronger we were, and the more we could hurt the Yeerks. The Yeerks had thousands- _millions_ on their side, and we were just a handful of kids. Even still, as a handful we'd done some damage. And if we could add a few more, who knows what kind of damage we could do?

I got lost in my thoughts for a while, and when I finished eating, I refocused on the conversation, which had concluded with Kurt and Quinn arguing good-naturedly and Mercedes trekking to her room to get _Apples to Apples _to commence our first ever _Battle of the Besties_. We spilled out into the entertainment room and I quickly scanned the room looking for Brittany, but she somehow managed to slip away without me noticing. I bit my lip. I needed to find her.

I moved to the door, but Quinn caught my arm.

"And just _where_ do you think you're going, S? I need you on my team so we can beat Kurt and Mercedes."

I smiled at her. "I was going to find Brittany."

"She'll be okay," Quinn reassured, waving her hand dismissively. "She's probably tired or something."

I chewed my lip nervously. Was that it? Was she just tired? I mean, we had been pretty busy lately, and she always ensured she was up earlier than I was so I'd wake up in her arms-

Guilt flooded my system. Brittany was always going out of her way to ensure I was comfortable. Was I depriving her of sleep? Was she really that tired? I took one last look towards the hallway, and made up my mind.

"Um, Sam, are you playing?" I asked awkwardly as I watched him stroll into the room, holding a bowl of pretzels. How could the guy still be hungry after dinner? I guess he needed more fuel to power that humongous mouth of his. I settled onto a loveseat, and Quinn plopped down beside me.

"Yeah, Esther and I are on a team!" he grinned, and Esther, who I hadn't even realized had come in, smiled shyly at me from the couch. Sam sat down beside her and nudged her with his elbow, and she giggled.

"Where's Brittany?" she asked, reaching for the pretzels and shoving one in her mouth.

"She's- sleeping," I said lamely, but it didn't sound right to my ears. Even if she was sleeping, I really, really wanted to go to her and hold her in my arms. Things had been weird between us all day, ever since Quinn woke up free, and whatever tension that was caused by her presence I wanted to clear up as soon as possible. I didn't like entertaining the idea that Brittany might be upset.

But once the game started, my mind focused on winning, and Quinn and I kicked everyone's asses because we were, in fact, the best _Besties_. After our scathing victory we changed teams, so that Quinn was with Mercedes and I was with Esther, and Sam and Kurt won. I was shocked at first, but then I was reminded of how much I missed Brittany. Quinn was my Bestie, of course, but Brittany was- she was _everything_. My heart ached.

I couldn't just leave abruptly, but after a few more games, I managed to escape because it was late. When I got to my room, Brittany was, in fact, sleeping. It was a weird thing to see, because her main eyes were closed, but her stalk eyes were open and looking around the room. I didn't know how she could sleep like that, but then, I also didn't know what having four eyes was like, or how they functioned with her brain, so I couldn't really judge.

Her stalk eyes scanned me disinterestedly, and I wondered if they were only for recognizing harmful threats. I didn't know if the Andalites had any natural predators on their home planet, since they had obviously adapted from prey animals. I guess they did.

I debated waking Brittany up, but if she hadn't noticed I was in the room (or worse, didn't care) then she must've been pretty tired after all. I quietly slipped into my nightclothes and crawled under my comforter. The sheets were cold, and as I curled up in the bed, I thought about how much my life had changed since falling in love with Brittany. I had never had a problem with falling asleep in an empty bed before- in fact, I had always preferred it that way.

But now, as I glanced over at Brittany's still sleeping form, I found myself, not for the first time, missing her presence. Her warmth. The scent of her skin, and the pressure of her arms around me. I hugged myself and tried not to think about it. Things would be better in the morning, right?

Still, I couldn't help whispering a soft, "Good night, Brittany," as I curled up into myself and closed my eyes.

And I didn't know what it meant when Brittany responded with a sad, _[Good night, Santana.]_

* * *

I woke up the next morning to Quinn shaking me. Not the best way to wake up, but it was ultimately better than Sugar's annoying presence.

I blinked sleepily, forgetting for a moment the sad state that I had fallen asleep in. Quinn was looking at me strangely, and I realized I was spooning my pillow. I let go of it and sat up, already irritated that she was judging me first thing in the morning. I could see her holding in her laugh.

"Q, I swear to God," I growled angrily, climbing out of bed.

"How long do you need before you're ready?" She asked instead, her smug grin still on her face. I glared at her and ignored her question, searching the room for Brittany, though it was obvious she wasn't there.

"Where's Brittany?" I asked, not giving two fucks at how my concern might sound. I was suddenly angry at Quinn. It was kind of her fault that Brittany and I weren't really on good terms- I guess that's an accurate way to describe it?- and I didn't want her influence making things worse. It was bad enough that I had kind of blown Brittany off the day before.

Because that's what I'd done, hadn't I? I had unintentionally excluded her in the circus mission, forgotten about her when I was at Quinn's bedside... And she wasn't actually tired at all, was she? She'd returned my _good night_, which meant she'd been awake. Maybe she'd wanted me to approach her, and she had every right to expect that considering _I_ was the one that ignored _her_. I cringed at the thought of what must be going through her head. What if she thought I didn't want to be around her anymore? Worse- what if she thought I didn't love her anymore? Sure, she'd spent a lot of time on Earth observing humans, but how would she know that love didn't just end abruptly?

_And_ she wasn't in my room when I woke up this morning. Oh, my God. I fucked up. I had to find Brittany. I had to find her and tell her-

"-tana. San-tan-a. SANTANA," Quinn said, annoyed, snapping me out of my panic.

"What?" I growled.

"I said, _why would Brittany be in your room_?"

"Huh?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. I could tell she was frustrated but I couldn't really bring myself to care. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I have to find Brittany," I muttered, standing up.

_[No need,]_ Brittany said calmly, and I looked over to see her standing in the doorway. My heart broke at the dull look in her eyes.

"Britt," I breathed, ignoring Quinn. I stood up and walked to her, hurt that she was avoiding my gaze. She took a step back as I approached her, and I stopped, appalled. Was she-

"Does this mean you're ready, or what?" Quinn huffed.

I closed my eyes in anger, counting to five so I didn't turn around and throttle Quinn. She was my best friend and all but fuck, she was really trying me.

_[Yes, we should go soon,] _Brittany agreed, turning her main eyes to the darkened hallway.

I sighed and let my shoulders drop, defeated. I just didn't know what to say, so I said the only thing I could.

"Okay."

* * *

The place was huge.

Like, it was about five stories, and I was stunned at how fast the building had gone up.

_[And they say construction is dead_,] I mumbled darkly as we circled the building, looking for an inconspicuous place to enter. You know, like a shady side door or something.

_[Definitely went up fast,]_ Quinn agreed.

After checking out the exterior, we found what we were looking for- there was a loading ramp near the back of the building. We stayed up high, observing for a while, trying to figure out if there was any kind of security on that back door.

_[There has to be, this is a Yeerk Pool,]_ Quinn said.

_[Well, I don't know, the entrances we've used before didn't have any security,]_ I pointed out.

_[They do _now_. The Yeerks didn't need security until you breached the Pool, but now they know you can get in, so they've installed some kind of filter at all of the entrances.]_

_[Filter?]_ I asked disbelievingly.

_[Yeah, it's like a Gleek or Gleep or-]_

_[A Gleet Bio-Filter,]_ Brittany said, her voice sounding slightly angered_. [Stolen Andalite technology, of course.]_

_ [Of course,] _Quinn muttered. I ignored her sarcastic jab at Brittany- this time.

_[What's it do?]_ I asked, hoping to shake Brittany out of whatever had been bothering her. I knew it wasn't going to be as simple as asking nice questions, but I figured it couldn't hurt to be nice, right?

Unfortunately, it didn't quite have the desired effect.

_[It-]_

_ [Exactly what it sounds like,]_ Quinn answered, cutting Brittany off. _[It filters out any unwanted life forms that try to enter.]_

_ [Thanks, _Brittany_,]_ I growled. What the fuck was Quinn's problem? Fuck, now I needed to talk to her, too. Neither of them were really helping me at the moment with their weird bestie rivalry. Shit, if I wanted to babysit, I would've stayed with Esther-

I sighed to myself and tried to let it go. _[What do you mean, filter?]_

Brittany waited, but when Quinn didn't answer (I guess I shut her up) she said, _[It combines scanning and Andalite Shredder technology to dispose of any unauthorized life form not entered into its programming.]_

_[So it pretty much melts everything that's not on the VIP list?]_

_ [Essentially.] _

_ [And I doubt any animals are on that list,] _Quinn added tightly.

We watched as a van slowly crept its way behind the building and toward the loading ramp. A Gleek Filter or whatever the fuck was kind of a huge problem. There was no way we could get into the building with one of those in place. Not unless we acquired-

And just like that, I had an idea.

_[Wait- humans would be programmed, right?]_

_ [Yes, but _specific_ ones-]_

_ [Yeah, but not _every_ person they work with is a Controller, right? Like, the guys in that van down there, they probably aren't Controllers, are they?]_

_[I don't know, they could be. We really have no way of knowing.]_ Quinn said carefully, and I felt a crazy plan forming in my mind.

_[We've gotta get inside. If those guys aren't Controllers, then the Yeerks must shut the Gleek Filters or whatever off to let normal, unauthorized humans inside the building to deliver stuff,]_ I said quickly.

_[So what are you suggesting?]_ Quinn asked, totally shocked.

_[I'm suggesting that we find out if Jasper and Horace down there are Controllers, and if they aren't, we just found our way into the Yeerk Pool.]_

_[Nice- but how do you intend to find that out?]_

I grinned smugly to myself._ [By showing them an Andalite.]_

* * *

"Ja ne ponimaju, Svenn, chto mnogo ryby za mesto, kotoroe ne imeet kakih-libo akuly illi-"

"Vy idiot? Kto zabotitsja? Nam poschastlivilos' dazhe imejut rabotu, perestat' zhalovat'sja."

_[What are they even saying?]_ I complained as we hid behind one of the rear wheels of the van, standing as birds on the pavement. We were waiting for the right time to jump the two delivery guys, who were speaking in Russian. I think?

_[The first guy, his name is-]_

_[Irrelevant,]_ Quinn snapped, and I resisted the urge to go peck her fucking eyes out for interrupting Brittany.

_[Not to me,]_ I snapped. Even though, okay, it _was_. But.

Brittany paused, then continued_, […said it was strange that there were so many fish being delivered, and the second guy said that they were both lucky to have jobs.] _I was impressed that Brittany's translator chip had Russian programmed in it, but I guess I wasn't too surprised. She never ceased to amaze me.

_[Like I said, irrelevant,] _Quinn muttered.

I sighed irritably. _[The fuck, Q, can you stop being about as charming as a wet mop?]_

_ [Someone's been watching too much _Grease_-]_

_ [How about: fuck you.]_

_ [Yeah, well, thanks, but not even if I was a Controller,]_ Quinn said with that smug voice that drove me nuts.

_[When should we make our move?]_ Brittany asked timidly. _[They are about to open the truck.]_

Oh, right. I forgot she'd been listening. Quinn just got me so fired up. _[Go ahead and transform,] _I told her.

She didn't say anything, but I saw her duck form growing bigger.

Unfortunately, so did the two guys.

"Aaah! Chto proishodit?!"

"Monstr! Zapusk!"

Even I recognized _that_ word; but it wasn't the usual loathing shriek of "Andalite!" and it told me all I needed to know. _[Britt, don't let them escape,]_ I said as I focused on my own beautiful human self.

"Aaah!"

"AUGH!"

_[They are not escaping,]_ Brittany said calmly.

_[Did you kill them?]_ Quinn demanded.

_[Would you _chill_?]_ I snapped in the same tone_. [This isn't her first-]_ but I had crossed over the halfway mark and lost thought-speak capabilities, "-mission!"

"INOSTRANCEV!"

"MONSTRY!"

I rolled my eyes and sized up the situation. Brittany stood nearby, posed to fight. Her tail flicked in the air nervously. The two guys (both of them had creepy beards and mustaches) were sitting on the ground, planted on their asses as if they'd been pushed there. And they probably _had_ been. I gave Brittany a sly look and she offered me a smile, the first genuine one I had received since the previous morning.

"So they're not Controllers," Quinn said, coming to stand behind me. She'd taken longer to transform, having less experience doing so than me.

I nodded absently as I watched the two guys quickly shed their hats and bright yellow coveralls, per Brittany's thought-speak requests. She stood towering over them, twitching her tail intimidatingly and instructing them on what to do. "Yep. So now we get rid of these guys and take their place."

Quinn was silent, so I looked at her. She had a doubtful, disbelieving expression on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"You're really serious," she said incredulously.

"Yup. That's how we work."

"Okay," Quinn said slowly. "So what's the plan?"

"Uh. We get rid of these guys and take their place… pretty sure I just said that."

Quinn crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, frustrated. "I get _that_. I meant, how do you want to get rid of them?"

_[They've seen us,] _Brittany pointed out as the guys finished undressing, sitting back down on the ground in long underwear that was actually pretty comical_. [Which means we have to be very careful.]_

"Well we can't just kill them," I said, exasperated. We couldn't kill them, right? Then the Yeerks would know we were there. This was supposed to be a quiet, secret mission, and- okay, yeah, maybe I should've thought this through better.

"Can't you wipe their memories or something?" Quinn asked Brittany, frowning.

"She's not a _wizard_, Quinn," I snapped. I scanned the parking lot. As usual, we didn't have a lot of time. The sun was rising higher and soon more people would begin to converge on this place. I made a quick decision. "Let's let them go. I mean, the guys don't even speak English. Who's going to believe them?"

_[A Yeerk would,]_ Brittany said.

She had a point. "True," I acknowledged. I turned to look at the guys, who were still staring wide-eyed at Brittany. In their underwear. "All right, Igor Karkaroff, Viktor Krum- look this way," I said with an authoritative tone, snapping my fingers. Igor and Viktor, as I'd suddenly taken to calling them, looked at me, blinking. "You see my girl here?" I pointed sassily at Brittany, who did her best to look menacing. The way she squared her shoulders made me smile- _inside_, because I was busy being a feisty bitch on the outside at the moment- and I continued in a much more threatening voice. "Well, she's a Warrior Rapidash from a fierce band of Rapidash Warriors-"

"Is this seriously happening right now?" Quinn muttered.

"-and her tail? Well, it'll slice your head off if you even _think_ about telling anyone what you saw. Got it?"

They blinked at me some more.

"They don't speak English, Santana," Quinn reminded flatly. I looked at her. She had her hand covering her eyes and an exasperated expression on her face.

"Oh yeah? I bet they'll understand _this_." I made a cutting motion across my throat with my finger. Then I pointed at Brittany, and made a zipping motion across my mouth. I shook my head, giving the two guys a penetrating, intimidating gaze. They nodded frantically, and I smiled, satisfied.

They got it.

But, just in case- "Britt, reiterate, please."

Brittany snapped her tail, making it crack threateningly. She glared at them. She leaned forward and lifted one of her front legs, bracing it against Igor's shoulder. He shook with fear, and I suddenly knew how they had ended up on their asses.

_[Please do not speak of this to anyone, or I will be forced to harm you,]_ Brittany said politely.

"Oh, for the love of..." Quinn trailed off, covering her eyes again as Brittany told the guys to get the fuck out, but in a much more pleasant way.

I grinned as the two guys scrambled to their feet and took off down the road, leaving their van- and their _outfits_- behind. "Nice, Britt."

* * *

"What the fuck is- _ugh_," I groaned as I popped the back of the van open and nearly threw up at the overwhelming smell. "Fish?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Quinn snapped. "This is an aquarium- Brittany _told_ you they were delivering fish. It even says fish on the van, for God's sakes."

I was surprised that Quinn had _listened_ to Brittany, but I was even more surprised when I looked at the van, and, sure enough, it said _Hitchens' Fishin's_ on the side of it. I felt stupid for a hot second for not noticing. "Whatever. Let's just deliver this fish-"

"You mean _pretend_ to deliver this fish," Quinn corrected. "You do remember we're not really employees of _Hitchens' Fishins_, right?"

"Yes, Quinn, I'm not a goldfish," I snapped, reaching for a box that I assumed had fish in it.

"There's even an embroidered fish on the coveralls," Quinn muttered under her breath.

I fumed. "_Q_-"

"I hope Hitchens wasn't one of the guys we scared away," Brittany interrupted thoughtfully as she came around the side of the van and stood in front of me, pulling a hand truck behind her.

"Doubtful," Quinn responded as I eyed Brittany's outfit. We had found a spare jacket in the van that she'd zipped on over her normal clothes, and she wore the hat we'd taken from Igor. Quinn wore Viktor's hat, and between the three of us, we looked pretty wonky and special. Brittany's hair was up in a ponytail, held by a gritty rubberband we'd found in the van, and I smiled fondly at her, reaching to tuck a stray lock of her hair behind her ear.

"You look nice," I murmured, averting my eyes and smiling shyly at her. And also trying not to get carried away with a bazillion kinky _Delivery Girl _roleplay fantasies.

"You look _home-schooled_," Quinn amended, and I sighed, turning to her.

"We _all_ look home-schooled," I said. "But it doesn't matter. We just have to get in. That's it." I grabbed the box of fish from the back of the van and set it on the ground, surprised by how heavy it was. And slimy. I inspected my hands as Brittany slid the hand-truck she'd taken off of the van under the box and the three of us made our way to the back door, one of the wheels of the hand truck squeaking repeatedly. I sighed. Of _course_ it would.

We rang the doorbell and after a few long, tense moments where I panicked repeatedly in my head while imagining a zillion different scenarios, the door opened.

An older man with glasses and dressed in a snappy business suit with a polka-dotted bowtie stood behind it, glaring disdainfully at us. He adjusted his glasses and my eyes dropped to his shiny metal nametag that said "Dalton Rumba _Manager_" on it.

"Why are there three of you?" he asked loudly.

I shrugged. "Is how many boss sent?" I offered in a heavily accented tone.

Dalton Rumba _Manager_ rolled his eyes. "Always foreigners," he muttered as he turned away, leaving space for us to follow. I glared at him, but dutifully fell into step behind him. Brittany came after me, tugging the dolly loaded with a whopping _one box _and a squeaky wheel behind her, and Quinn brought up the rear.

We stopped as we reached the end of the room and the door slid shut behind us. I swallowed nervously and held my breath. Would Dalton Rumba _Manager_ turn on the Gleek (it's probably more than likely I'll be calling it that forever) Filter? Were we about to be incinerated into atoms?

Most importantly- would I die smelling like fish?

There were no flashing lights, strobe lights, spot lights, _all of the lights_- whatever, to indicate the Gleek Filter had been activated, so I hoped we were in the clear. I finally released the breath I'd been holding when Dalton Rumba _Manager_ opened the door opposite from the one we entered, and led us into a brightly lit hallway.

He turned to us. "Do you know where to go?" he practically yelled.

I shook my head, playing the part of Clueless Foreigner.

He pointed down the hall. "Take this to the end, and make a right. The walk-in fridge is right there!" He shouted.

"Thank you," I said, accented.

"What?!"

"Thank y-"

"Listen, you're going to have to speak up!" Dalton Rumba _Manager_ said at full volume. He pointed jerkily to his ear. "I'm partially deaf! Scarlet Fever!"

I blinked at him. I had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe I really _was_ Clueless Foreigner.

"Thank you!" Quinn yelled, saving me from having to respond. He looked at her like she was crazy, and Quinn lowered her head a little, making sure the brim of her hat hid her features. The last thing we needed was for her to get recognized.

Dalton Rumba _Manager_ watched as Quinn led the way down the hall, motioning for Brittany to follow her, which she did, towing the cart with the box behind her. It squeaked the whole way.

Once we made the turn towards the walk-in fridge, Brittany quickly set the dolly down and we huddled into the corner. I tried not to think about how close Brittany was and how badly I wanted to just _hug_ her, and instead concentrated on what we were going to do next. And ignored the nauseating smell of rotten fish.

"Okay, we ditch the disguises," I said in a low voice.

"Then what?" Quinn demanded.

"We check this place out? I don't know. But I _can't_ walk around for another minute smelling like fish," I growled. "I just can't."

Quinn cocked an eyebrow and looked as if she might say something, but I glared and shook my head, indicating that she shouldn't even think about whatever joke she was going to make. She smirked instead. "Okay, so we'll all jeopardize ourselves because you don't like fish," she said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Look, there's probably no one even around-"

"Honestly? I could care less," Quinn said as she tugged her hat off and began unsnapping the front of her coveralls. "Let's just do what we came to do." She kicked off Viktor's huge brown boots she had slipped onto her bare feet- since she hadn't learned how to transform with shoes yet- and looked down at herself, dressed in a black leotard.

Like, an _actual_ fucking black leotard. I hadn't really noticed before because I'd been focused on Igor and Viktor, but when I saw her standing barefoot and awkward as I yanked off my own coveralls, I couldn't help but laugh.

"I look stupid," Quinn groused.

"Yep," I said, but at her glare I added, "Don't worry, though- B will help you."

Quinn looked at Brittany, who was dressed with her usual eccentric style, and raised a mocking eyebrow. "Like hers?"

I gazed at Brittany, saw her swallow- and I suddenly felt bad. "I like Brittany's style," I told Quinn defensively. "It's cute."

"Right," Quinn said, turning away. She crept to the corner and peeked around it, and while she was turned, I couldn't resist the impulse to grab Brittany's hand and squeeze it briefly. I wanted to reassure her that I did, in fact, like her style, and that I loved _her_, and that it was so, so hard for me to be so distant from her-

But then Brittany tried to lace our fingers together, to hold my hand fully, and I cringed, pulling my hand away awkwardly and following Quinn as she slid around the corner and moved across the hall.

_Sorry, Britt._

* * *

We looked around for a few hours, somehow managing to avoid running into anyone. It was mostly deserted, and actually, the place seemed pretty normal- well, except the part where a moving sidewalk carried us down a glass tunnel through a gigantic aquarium tank and then turned a corner, only to end with a sharp stop in a humongous room that contained a Yeerk Pool. You know, other than _that_.

"Shit- how are we gonna destroy this place?" I hissed.

"Plow through it, maybe?" Quinn suggested in a whisper.

I looked at Brittany, but she was silent again. Fuck, fuck, fuck- why did I have to go and-

"Mercedes has an elephant, right? We could just smash through it," Quinn continued.

"That seems like our only option. Get in, transform, and then-"

"Hey! What're you kids doing here?" a deep male voice boomed from a doorway on the other side of the pool.

I jumped and turned. Shit. We were busted.

The man approached us. His nametag said "Rod Remington _Publicity_" on it. I gulped as he neared us, working his way around the edge of the Pool.

Quinn flashed him her most winning smile. "We're here for the park," she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes. "To swim."

Rod Remington _Publicity_ looked confused for a moment, and Quinn gestured to her outfit for emphasis. I bit my lip, praying she wouldn't be recognized, as Rod Remington _Publicity_ spoke. "We're not even- open- yet." I cringed. He had the weirdest way of speaking. It was like, William Shatner weird. Was this where the Yeerks sent all their crazy hosts, or? If so, why wasn't Sugar here? She'd fit right in with these-

"Oh, you're not? How silly of me," Quinn was saying, but I watched Rod Remington _Publicity's_ face as he processed what was happening. It was interesting (read: _terrifying_); I could almost see the realization flash across his face as he figured out who Quinn was, and then he looked at me.

And then he took a hesitant step back, because he _knew_.

Shit.

"Britt," I said suddenly, and Brittany didn't falter as she transformed back to Andalite, then, within moments, had knocked Rod Remington _Publicity_ unconscious with the flat of her tailblade.

"Well, that didn't turn out quite as well as I'd-"

"Cut the shit, Q," I barked. "Fuck. Okay." I wracked my brain for answers. Rod Remington _Publicity_ had definitely seen us- definitely _recognized_ us. We couldn't let him just walk away like Igor and Viktor- he was a Controller. He knew too much. If we let him walk away, he'd definitely alert the rest of the Yeerks to our presence, and we needed the element of surprise. It was hard enough getting into the building (I mean, we were pros and all, but still) without additional security being added. "We need to do something with this guy, at least until we can come back and smash this place up," I said, taking a deep, steady breath.

"Why don't we smash it now?" Quinn asked.

"And die?" I demanded. "If we break the glass, we'll drown. I don't have any water forms, Q, do you?"

Quinn slumped. "No."

_[I do,]_ Brittany said. I smiled sadly at her, remembering her weird snailhorse form.

"B, I can't ask you to do that, not alone," I said softly. She shrugged, her body stiff and her expression stoic, and I sighed. There was nothing I could say- I deserved her indifference. I only hoped she'd give me a chance to explain once we got home.

"It doesn't matter anyway- how is she going to break the glass?" Quinn asked, bringing me back to the conversation.

"Britt's back legs can kick you apart," I said seriously- _proudly_. Quinn's eyebrows rose, and she glanced at Brittany's strong Andalite legs with a fraction more appreciation- _wanky_- and I didn't know whether to be happy or jealous. I shook my head slightly to clear my thoughts.

"So she breaks the glass, then transforms… and we… peace out?"

"Pretty much," I sighed. "But we'll probably have to fight our way out, so we should definitely be prepared." I brightened. "This will be your first real fight."

Quinn released a breath. "Yeah. I saw what you did at Haverbrook Tower."

I didn't answer, only closed my eyes and focused on the cheetah- on _speed_.

Quinn took the hint and did the same, and soon we were two felines standing side by side.

_[B.E.T.H.,]_ I laughed.

_[B.E.T.H.,]_ she agreed, flicking her tail. She shook out her luxurious white mane and no sooner had I turned to Brittany to give her the go-ahead when the door that Rod Remington _Publicity_ had entered from on the other side of the Pool re-opened and two Hork-Bajir strolled in casually. They spotted Brittany, then us, and immediately froze.

"Hruthin!" The first one yelled.

_[The fuck does that mean?]_ I wondered as I sprang into action.

_[It means _Andalite_,]_ Quinn said, loping along behind me.

_[And how do you know that?]_ I asked casually as I pounced on the first one and, hissing, sank my teeth into his arm, ripping him to the ground viciously. The second Hork-Bajir had already turned to run, and Quinn crouched to follow him. _[Let him go, we need to smash and dash,]_ I told her.

_[Okay,] _she relented, straightening up_. _Her tail flicked in agitation_. [And I know because Ardnek 316- the Yeerk that had infested me- had a Hork-Bajir for a host at one point.] _

_[What does that have to do with anything?]_ I asked, pulling back from the Hork-Bajir beneath me, who was now unconscious. Quinn shrugged her powerful lion shoulders.

_[When a Yeerk dies, pieces of their memories remain in their host,]_ Brittany explained solemnly from the glass tunnel. _[Every host a Yeerk visits remains part of them; and the Yeerk, Ardnek 316- and its hosts- will remain part of Quinn.]_

_ [Gross,]_ I said. Quinn's lion growled at me and I sauntered a few feet away, just in case she wanted to maul me or something.

_[I'm ready to break this,]_ Brittany said tensely.

_[Go for it,]_ Quinn said as she moved towards the door. _[We'll catch up with you outside.]_

_[Brittany,]_ I said privately_. [I love you. Be careful, okay?]_

She hesitated for a moment before she sighed back, _[I love you, too.]_

My heart fluttered at her words, even though her tone was sad, and I leapt for the exit, wishing that Brittany didn't have to smash the glass alone. But I reassured myself that if anyone could transform under pressure, it was her. She would make it out okay- _she still loved me_- and we would be home to the _Batcave_ in a matter of hours.

I guess things weren't as bad as I thought.

* * *

It took literally seconds for the entire place to flood once Brittany kicked the shit out of that glass tunnel. I was kind of grateful there weren't any animals in it yet, because they would've been on the ride of their lives, which would have ended directly after the ride did. Quinn and I made it out of the building safely, but couldn't say the same for a lot of the Controllers in the general vicinity. We ran into a few human-Controllers, but none of them attempted to stop us. Which, okay, they would've had to have been pretty damn stupid to try to halt a lion and a cheetah, anyways.

Quinn and I were in the air in bird form, and I was anxiously waiting on Brittany to join us. It was getting dark already- damn these winter months- as I scanned the outside of the building, looking for some sign of her duck form. The building hadn't crumbled or anything, which was unfortunate. It meant we would probably have to be back at some point, because the Yeerks surely weren't going to give up on their project due to a little water damage.

Quinn drifted in front of me, and I noticed how natural she was in her bald eagle form. I know flying, for me, had been hard to get used to at first. It's weird just floating in the air, you know?

_[So patriotic, Q,] _I commented as she did a loop in the air.

_[You just noticed my form?]_ she asked dryly.

_[Nah, I meant to say something last time, but I was far too busy patting myself on the back.]_

_[Good to know,]_ she muttered. Then, she said, _[There's Brittany.]_

_[What? Where?]_ I asked, wheeling to look where she was pointed.

_[Fighting those two Hork-Bajir,]_ Quinn said casually.

_[Oh, God.]_ She was fighting? That meant the Yeerks had followed her out! That meant she'd gotten caught up, and-

Quinn dropped, folding her wings back and angling herself down like a bullet heading towards the ground. I watched as she aimed at the nearest Hork-Bajir, and then, at the last minute, she flared her wings, raked her talons forward, and the Hork-Bajir screamed in agony as she literally gouged his eyes out.

_[Yah-haaaaaah!] _Quinn crowed triumphantly, swooping back up into the sky, flapping hard to gain altitude. I was mildly shocked that she had just kind of helped Brittany- but also pretty pleased. Maybe someday they could actually get along- maybe my two besties could be _besties_.

_[Fuck yeah, America,]_ I agreed, watching as Brittany's other opponent hit the pavement, and she rapidly began to sprout feathers. Within moments she was in the sky.

_ [Are you-]_

_[I'm fine,]_ she snapped tersely in response to the private question I had started to ask.

I was taken aback by her tone, but I dropped it, and the three of us flew back to the Motta Mansion in silence.

* * *

Sam smiled at me. "So, how did it-"

"Sleep first," I growled, brushing past him and following Brittany, who was in her human form, to my- _our_- room. Sam didn't say anything, but I heard Quinn's voice and knew she would take care of whatever questions he had.

I couldn't let this go on any longer. Whatever was bothering Brittany, we were going to take care of right now. I'd been putting it off all day, letting it fester, and it made me uneasy, made my stomach twist into knots. I hadn't exactly helped it by ignoring her and pushing away her affections, but I had to at least try and make amends.

"Brittany," I called softly.

She turned, her face a mask of indifference. It stung, but again, I deserved it. I knew that. I reached out to take her hand, but she pulled away. "Don't you have something to be doing with Quinn?" she asked sullenly, and I felt as if I'd been slapped.

"What?" I asked in utter disbelief. She opened the door to our room and entered, and I followed close behind her. "B, what is _wrong_ with y-"

I was cut off by her lips pressing to mine- _hard_. Whatever I was going to say was muffled, forgotten and squashed by the bruising force of her kiss. Brittany pushed me back against the door roughly, and the force of my body slammed it closed as she moved forward, invading my space. She kissed me furiously, and I could practically taste her frustration. Despite the nearly overwhelming intensity, I found myself moaning as she moved her body between my legs, leaving zero distance between us. I hadn't been this close to her in days, and just feeling her toned body pressed flush to mine was making me unbelievably wet. I'd been craving her nearness, longing for intimacy. I'd been aching to kiss her, to feel her warm hands on my body-

I gasped into Brittany's searing mouth as her fingers drove into me harshly. No warning, just- My head fell back against the door as she slowly and steadily plunged into me over and over, _taking_ me, though I gave myself to her freely; I tried to stifle my urge to cry out, to moan loudly- the door was thin, and the others could be out in the hallway- but it was hard to care with Brittany's fingers fucking me as relentlessly as they were. I bit my lip and raked my fingernails down Brittany's back in an attempt to remain quiet, but it only made her possessively hike my right thigh up around her waist and slam into me harder. She curled her fingers on every exit, pulling out slow, then driving back in deeply, quicker- it was driving me crazy.

It was difficult to remain standing, and I tightened my thigh around her. The force of her hand was pushing me back into the door and making an incessant, soft thumping noise. The sound only brought me closer to my release- and I was already close. I was close the second her fingers entered me, embarrassingly so.

Brittany was biting my neck, viciously sucking. She nipped just hard enough to not break my skin, but the pain combined with the intense pleasure from her torturing fingers had me right on the edge, and I was right there, and just, fuck, "Britt," I gasped. "Brittany, _fuck_- _Brittany_." She kissed me again, and I came with a muffled cry into her mouth, riding her still thrusting fingers as her tongue stroked me, and her fingers stroked me, and I felt myself slump against the door, holding her to me tightly as I convulsed against her, around her.

She held still for a moment, kissing me slowly, her tongue tangling with mine, caressing it, and my heartbeat didn't slow, my shivers didn't subside. I was literally putty in her hands as she kissed me. After long moments, she tried to pull away, but I tightened my arms, and my leg, which was still hooked around her hips, unwilling to let go.

"Don't," I mumbled against her lips, pecking them intermittently. My eyes were half-lidded and I felt completely satisfied pressed against the door.

Brittany turned her heated gaze away from me, and I felt a tremor run through her body. I reached up gingerly to cup her chin and turn her face back towards me, catching her eyes.

"Britt…"

She closed her eyes, anguished. Her hand came up to grasp mine, which was still holding her chin and part of her cheek. She took a deep breath that seemed to shudder through her, and opened her blue eyes, which were bright with unshed tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice wavering. I was so confused.

"For what?" I whispered back, unwilling to break the quiet spell we were in.

"I just- I had to, before… before-"

"Before what, B?" I asked gently, pressing more lingering pecks to her lips.

"Before you leave."

"Where am I going?"

Brittany swallowed and averted her eyes. And suddenly I figured out what she meant.

"Hold up," I said softly. "You think I'm leaving you?" She bit her lip, and I continued. "Why would I do that?"

Brittany took a deep breath, and I had a feeling this was going to be a lot more serious than I initially thought. I let my leg drop to the floor and carefully steered her to the bed. We laid on our sides, facing each other, our bodies touching, intimately invading each other's space. My thigh slipped between hers, our noses touched, my fingers delicately traced up and down her side; Her arm was draped over my waist, her other tucked under her head, and our hips were pressed together. Her blue eyes sparkled in the lamplight, and I gazed into them steadily as she revealed her fear to me.

"It's just that- you and Quinn-"

"Honey, I'd never leave you for Quinn," I reassured gently, kissing her nose.

"Maybe you should," she blurted in a tiny voice, and I stopped stroking her side to look at her.

"What are you saying?" I asked, trying not to let the hardness creep into my voice. "You want me to leave you?"

"No," she said quickly. "I just- w-what if- it's j-just that-"

_She's stuttering_. I cupped her face. "Breathe, Britt," I purred against her lips.

She took another deep breath. "What if you're better suited to your own kind?"

I paused to blink at her. "Is that what this is about? You think Quinn is better for me because she's _human_?"

Brittany swallowed bitterly. "You guys get along so well," she admitted in a sad whisper. "And I can't help but think that I'll never be as good as her, b-because she's h-human, and-"

I kissed her, shaking my head a little as I did so. "No," I mumbled. I kissed her again. "No." Kiss. "No, no, _no_." I kissed her forcefully, this time pushing her onto her back, dominating her and sliding my tongue into her mouth. My thigh pushed against her center and her hips canted upwards in response, and I felt the vibrations of her moan in my mouth.

"Santana," she panted as I moved to suck at her neck, "I just want you to be happy. And if Quinn is better-suited-" She let out a hiss as I bit her neck roughly.

"Brittany, _no_. No one is better-suited to me than you are. And even if they were, I wouldn't care. I love _you_. I'm not leaving you. So I think it would be best if you got that idea out of your head," I breathed into her ear before I teased it with my tongue. Her hips jerked in response, and I smiled.

"But-"

"Stop right there," I demanded as I pulled back. "I knew Quinn before you. If she was better suited for me, then I would've never met you. I would've probably stayed at that party with her instead of walking home through that construction site with Sam and the others." I paused as I thought about the revelation I had just made, furrowing my eyebrows at the horrifying thought. "But I _did_ walk home through that construction site. I _did_ meet you. And," I paused to take a deep breath- confessions were not my thing, but Brittany deserved to know the truth (even if that truth was about to be the cheesiest thing to ever leave my lips), "you're the best thing that's ever been- _mine_," I said, feeling slightly stupid at my unintentional use of Taylor Swift's lyrics. I inwardly rolled my eyes, but Brittany was smiling at me, and that was all that mattered.

"I love you," she murmured, "and I'm _so_ yours. Proudly so-" She cut off as I quickly slid my left hand down her pants, pushing two fingers inside her. I moaned at how ready she was, at how she felt around my fingers, and I wasted no more time as I fucked her senseless, bringing her to orgasm faster than I ever had.

I kissed the side of her chin as she came down beneath me, trembling and holding me tightly, gasping for air. After a while, she spoke quietly. "Are you ashamed of me?"

"Britt," I breathed against her flushed neck, before gently pressing my lips there. "No. I just want Quinn to understand how much you mean to me before I tell her."

"She doesn't seem to like me very much," Brittany admitted sadly.

"She doesn't know you, yet. Q is always like that at first. But she'll come around, I promise. And if not, I'll rip her to shreds, that's all. I mean, it's not like I can't take down a lion," I joked, then cringed at the memory. Too soon?

Brittany stroked her fingers up and down my bare arm, holding me close. "Are you going to tell her soon?"

"Tomorrow," I promised. "I'll tell her tomorrow." I swallowed, feeling suddenly nervous about the huge commitment I had just made. But Brittany had made so many commitments to me, including forsaking her entire race and jeopardizing her career and _everything else_- was it really so hard for me to do this one thing for her so she wasn't sad?

"Okay," Brittany whispered, her voice tiny and hopeful. "I- I don't like feeling this way."

I nuzzled under her ear, breathing her in. "What way?"

"I feel- angry, and- like I don't-"

"Like what, B?"

"Like I don't want to share you with Quinn."

I laughed softly against her neck. Brittany was _jealous_. And she probably didn't even know what jealousy was. I smiled. "You don't have to share me. I'm _yours_, completely."

"But-"

"Shh," I said, moving to kiss her into silence. I kissed her for long moments until she was breathless again, and once she was squirming beneath me, I pulled back to smile at her. "Let me show you."

* * *

I quietly shut the door to my room, noting the late hour and the darkness of the hall. I had regretfully crawled out of bed to get some water, giving Brittany a kiss on the cheek and a promise that I would return shortly. I quickly made my way to the kitchen, eager to get back to Brittany's arms. It was dark, with just a small light above the stove on as I filled a cup with water from the fridge, taking a long drink, alone with my thoughts.

In the morning, I'd have to talk to Sam and the others about what had happened at the aquarium. Maybe we'd even have to finish destroying the building, but there really was no way around a Plan B when we did. We couldn't just leave the building there. We had to let the Yeerks know that they couldn't build an above-ground Yeerk Pool with no consequences. That was just _crazy _arrogant-

"Jesus fucking _Christ_, Santana," Quinn hissed from next to me, and I startled slightly, surprised that she had snuck up on me.

I glared at her. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" I blurted, before I realized how awful that sounded. Shit.

Quinn glared back at me. "I used to before she became a _slave_," she muttered darkly.

I sighed. Whoops. "Why are you up?"

Quinn shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Got too much on my mind." She raised a challenging eyebrow and smirked. "I see you have that problem, too."

I gave her a confused look and she pointed to her neck.

Oh, shit.

I felt my cheeks heating up as I realized that I probably looked like I had been attacked by either leeches or vampires. I guess I couldn't really explain the marks away with a curling iron excuse-

"I _knew_ you and Sam were back together. Why didn't you tell me? Was Cooper even _real_, or-"

"Woah, woah, woah, _hold the fuck up_," I said, putting my hand up to stop her. "I am _not_ back with Sam. Sam is with Mercedes."

"Then who left those marks on your neck?" She demanded. Then her expression shifted to that of amusement. "Don't tell me it's _Kurt_."

I gave her a sarcastic look that said _really_? and rolled my eyes. Then I realized that _this was it_. I had to tell Quinn about Brittany. I took a deep breath. "Q, I'm gonna tell you something, and I don't want you to freak out, okay?"

She smirked. "You're not pregnant are you?"

I shot her a look and she laughed, then waited. I took another deep breath. And another. Okay, I was stalling, and-

"If this is about you and Brittany, I kind of already figured it out," Quinn mentioned.

"Wait. You did? How?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Quinn asked, rolling her eyes. "The way you two look at each other is kind of a dead giveaway and also a little revolting. Plus, you defended her from my insults- not a whole lot of people you would do that for."

I shrugged. She had a point. I guess I had told Quinn, in my own way, through clues. But still. "You knew it wasn't Sam."

"You just said yourself, Sam is with Mercedes. That's obvious."

"So… you're not mad, or disgusted or…?"

Quinn shrugged, mimicking me. "What do I care who you choose to spend your time with? Brittany seems nice, and yeah, okay, it's a _lot_ weird that she's, like, an _alien_. Is she planning to stay human after the war?"

"Yes," I murmured, my thoughts drifting off fondly to our conversation about our future together.

"Have you guys been involved this whole time? Like, since you met?"

"Basically. I mean, I resisted, at first."

"Of course."

"But she's just so-" I paused, trying to think of a word to describe her. Beautiful, wonderful,_ perfect-_

"-Brittany," Quinn finished with a smile.

I smiled back. "Yeah. We've been fighting this war for months, but I don't regret it, because without it I wouldn't have met her."

"That's lame as _fuck_, S."

I shoved Quinn's shoulder and growled. "Don't be jealous."

Her expression softened. "I _am_ jealous. I hoped, someday, that Puck and I…" She sighed. "But now he's Visser Seven. If I'd have known he was fighting all this time- if you guys had just _told_ me-"

"We couldn't, Q. Besides, we didn't have the blue box. It wouldn't have helped."

"It might have helped me cope with my parents," She answered. I bit my lip. I hadn't thought of that, but it was true. It didn't change the fact that we couldn't have told her, though. If she had been caught and infested, our secret would've been out much sooner. And she had a better chance of getting caught because she wouldn't have had the transforming power to aid in her escape. Not that it actually helped- Puck was a prime example.

"We'll get him back," I said firmly. "And when this war is over, you guys can start over."

Quinn smiled at me, but it was laced in sorrow. "You really think that?" She shook her head. "We'll never be the same. This war will change us. I only hope that when it's over, it hasn't completely changed _me_." She looked at me, her hazel eyes green and intense. "I was a slave for six days, Santana. And even in those six days, I changed. How long has Puck been a slave?"

"Too long," I breathed, dropping my eyes to the floor and thinking about what she said.

Because she was right- I _had_ changed. I had fought, I had killed. It had never really bothered me, because I pushed it out of my mind. But I'd seen real horror, I'd felt real fear. I'd been close to death.

I'd even killed people I knew.

And it wasn't over. There was still more war- an unfathomable amount of it- to fight. I had no idea what the future held for me, or for any of us. I had no idea how different Puck would be once we freed him. What Quinn's parents, or Sam's parent's, or Kurt's step-mom- what any of them would be like. War affects everyone differently. It touched me in ways it hadn't touched Kurt or Mercedes. I briefly wondered how the war had affected Britt-

"San," Brittany's voice said gently from the door. I looked up, surprised, tracing my eyes over her body as an involuntary smile automatically grew on my face. She was wearing her sleep shirt and panties and her hair was tousled and messy, but she was the most beautiful person I'd ever laid eyes on. She returned my smile shyly, a faint pink staining her cheeks. "You were taking too long."

"Come here," I murmured, reaching my hand out to her. She moved closer unsurely, aware of Quinn's presence, and once her hand bashfully grasped mine I pulled her against me, planting a big, sloppy kiss on her lips- right in front of Quinn. Brittany giggled against my mouth and pulled back to look into my eyes, smiling, her eyes twinkling with happiness.

Yeah, I pretty much had no idea what I'd have to do next or who I'd have to kill. I only hoped I wouldn't ever lose sight of the things that were important to me. Because _Brittany_ was important to me. Brittany wasn't just my _bestie_- she was my _everything_. And I was hers- proudly so.

I grinned at Brittany, sliding my arm around her waist and leaning my head against her shoulder. My heart was pounding, but I was so, so in love and happiness filled me up completely. I couldn't stop my smile from growing as I turned to Quinn, who was smiling back.

"Q, I'd like you to meet Brittany- my _girlfriend_."

* * *

_**The End**_**. :')**

**Haha, just kidding. How fucked up would that be, though? XD**

**Sorry Quinn was such a bitch. She'll be better next chapter now that she's shipping Brittana with the rest of us. **

**Also, good news (or bad news, depending on what side of the coin you're on)- remember that time I said I'd finish this story by the end of the year? Yeeeeah well that probably won't happen. I have at least 5 more chapters planned out. I hope that's okay with you guys. ._.**

**Anyways, review if you feel like telling me about your feelings. If not, you know, it's okay. **

**See you next Monday, though, regardless. **

**I'd like to apologize for not speaking Russian. If you speak Russian and I somehow managed to offend you through my very poor use of it, well, I think you need to make like cement and harden the fuck up, okay? It's not that serious. ;)


	22. Waste Management

**Hi. :)**

**It's Monday, so here's an update.**

**Not much to say, other than thanks so much for the reviews, favorites, lurks, follows, creeps, and everything else. You guys are the best! :D**

**Hope you enjoy this plot-advancing chapter!**

* * *

"Good Lord, Santana."

I looked at Mercedes through bleary eyes. It was early, and I had literally just rolled out of bed. Sam had called us together to determine what to do about the huge building housing the new Yeerk Pool, and I was not pleased to be awake. I'm sure I probably looked like crap, but then I noticed Sam blushing and Kurt openly staring at me with an embarrassed expression. Did I have drool on my face or something?

I looked at Brittany. She was grinning and biting her lip to stifle a giggle and Quinn smirked at me and discreetly pointed to her own neck.

"Oh for fuck's sake," I grumped. It really wasn't as bad as everyone was making it seem.

Okay, that's a lie.

Brittany had left three _very_ noticeable, dark bruises on my neck. I kind of looked like a victim of domestic abuse, and I was also kind of getting fed up at everyone calling me out on it. It made me want to transform just to heal them, but I also was too stubborn to let a little peer joshing erase the fact that I was getting hot action and nobody else was. They were all just jelly.

"I realize that, having no lives of your own of which to speak, mine must be extremely fascinating. In fact, you may even be trying to live vicariously through me, but let me just say? There are more important things we need to focus on," I snapped as I moved to stand next to Brittany. I laced my fingers with hers and leaned my head on her shoulder. And smirked.

"Santana's right," Sam said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. His blush was just finally starting to dissipate. "We need to figure out what to do about the new Yeerk Pool."

"Smash it the fuck up," I said. "That part's pretty obvious. Especially since the Yeerks know we were there, and they'll be expecting us now. We can't go in all sneaky-snake. We've got to _Plan B_ it."

"With what, though?" Mercedes asked. "As far as building-destroying animals, we really only have my elephant."

"We can always acquire more animals," Kurt said with an indifferent shrug.

"I'm not really sure there's an animal _big_ enough to take on a five-story building of that size," Sam mused.

"So after everything we've been through and destroyed, we're outmatched by a _building_?" I asked. "How ridiculous is that?"

"Pretty ridiculous," Quinn agreed. "Maybe we don't have just one animal that can take on a building, but if we all take on big animal forms, we can smash it up as a team."

"Good point."

"There's got to be other ways to destroy a building," Mercedes pointed out, exasperated. "If you wanted to destroy the high school, how would you do it?"

"Steal a tank," Sam said immediately.

I rolled my eyes and Brittany giggled. "Tank is a funny word," she whispered into my hair, and I smiled at her.

"Okay, well, we can't _steal_ a _tank_," Kurt said, ignoring Brittany's answering giggle. "We want the military on our side, not against us."

"Well, too bad I can't transform into an earth-mover," I joked.

"This isn't the _Wonder Twins_," Quinn agreed. "But you did bring up something important. We may not be able to steal a _tank_," Brittany giggled and I squeezed her hand, "without pissing off the military, but we can probably steal an earth-mover without too much trouble."

Sam nodded, looking energized. "Yeah! We'll need a super-sleuth team to go and get the earth-mover, and-"

"I nominate Kurt and Brittany," Mercedes said, cutting Sam off with a raised hand before he could say _himself_. Sam's face fell.

"But-"

"Look. Do you know how to drive an earth-mover?"

"No. But-"

"Do you even know where one is?"

Sam shrugged and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "No…"

Mercedes smiled, satisfied. "So that's why I nominate Brittany and Kurt." She patted Sam on the arm and offered him an apologetic smile.

"I've seen your driving, and can I just say? Not worth all the destroyed Yeerk Pools on the planet to have to endure again," I stated.

Sam huffed. "Okay, _okay_."

"Besides, we need you to be on the ground, leading the charge into the building," Kurt placated, stroking Sam's ego. Sam straightened up proudly.

"Yeah, you're right. I should go acquire something big, and be on the ground. Who's coming with me?"

"Not me," Mercedes said. "I already have my elephant."

"I'll go," Quinn offered. "I have the least amount of animals at my disposal."

Sam looked at me and I shrugged. "I have my bull. I'd rather use that. I'm used to it." Sam frowned, clearly disapproving of my choice, but I didn't care. Me and Taurus went well together and got plenty of smashing done. Besides, I could help guide Brittany and the others, since my eyesight in bull form was decent.

"Okay, so Santana stays with Mercedes. I'll go with Quinn to the zoo to pick up some smashing power. Kurt, you lead Brittany to some type of earth-mover, and-"

"_Steal_ it, right," Kurt said with an eye roll. "Simple. Only- where do you want us to go once we've stolen an earth-mover?"

"Well, Quinn and I should be back by the time you get the thing. We'll get Santana and Mercedes and we'll all just meet at the aquarium. No sense in driving it here and then all the way into the next town."

"_None_ of this makes sense, but that's beside the point," Kurt muttered and I grinned at him.

"Does it ever?"

* * *

I saw everyone off, if only to give Brittany a deliberately heated and lingering kiss, just to spite everyone. Quinn and Sam took off immediately, but Kurt had to wait for Brittany. He cleared his throat loudly to get my attention but I ignored him in favor of making him even more uncomfortable and letting my hands stray to Brittany's ass as I kissed her thoroughly. When I pulled away, she rested her forehead on mine, beaming and struggling to catch her breath.

"Be careful," I told her seriously.

"Always," she promised, cupping my face and giving me one last, deep kiss. Then she turned and, once fully duck, shot me a happy ducky look before she took off, making me smile.

I turned around to see Mercedes rolling her eyes and shrugged.

"Show-off," she muttered as we began to make our way back down to the lift.

"Whatever. What's up with you and Sammy, anyways?"

"I like him, I really do. But we both want to focus on the war, and-"

"And what if you're dead tomorrow?"

Mercedes sighed, punching in the code to the lift. "I know. Every day we are alive seems like a gift from God, and I don't want to waste it. But-"

"So don't," I said seriously. "I used to hold myself back from Brittany-"

"-that definitely didn't happen-"

I shoved her playfully. "But now I don't. If I die right now, she will know beyond a doubt that I love her. And I know she loves me. And that's it. We can't forget _why_ we're fighting this war, you know?"

Mercedes nodded, her eyes faraway, thoughtful. "I guess I'm just worried about losing him _after_ the war. I mean, I know he seems to care about me now, but I don't know if that's because we're both in the same situation, or because he always has. If the war ends tomorrow, I want to know that he's still going to care about me."

"He's cared about you for a long time, even before the war," I said softly. "Even when he and I were dating, he liked you. It was one of the reasons we agreed to end our sham of a relationship."

"Really?" Mercedes asked, her voice and expression hopeful, but still doubting. Like my words were too good to be true or something.

I nodded. "Trouty and I have always been better as friends," I admitted. "But when I told him I thought so, and that we should break up, he agreed and confessed that he thought he might have started developing feelings for you. And that was way before the war."

Mercedes swallowed. "Yeah, but- he dated you, and he dated Quinn. And I know I'll never look like either of you. What if-"

"Listen carefully, because I hate all this touchy-feely crap, and I'm only going to say this once, okay?" Mercedes looked at me and I continued. "You don't _need_ to look like us. You have an amazing personality, and a huge heart, and okay, what the fuck, I feel like I'm in a _Disney_ movie."

Mercedes laughed and patted my shoulder. "Satan, you _do_ have a heart."

"Well don't fucking tell anyone, alright?"

* * *

Mercedes and I spent about an hour hanging out flipping through channels, and laughing about funny stuff from high school.

Wow, I just sounded so _old_ saying that, didn't I?

I meant, we talked about people we knew in school and tried not to think about the nervous anticipation creeping into our stomachs at the upcoming mission, and waited for the others. When we were interrupted, though, it wasn't by Sam and Quinn.

"Hi, losers," Sugar said arrogantly, standing in the doorway in a dramatic pose. Did she think this was a soap opera or something?

I pointedly ignored her, but Mercedes answered, "Hey, Sugar."

"I'm ready to receive the transformation power," she said theatrically and I rolled my eyes.

"Too bad," I said, still not looking at her. "The others are out."

"Who cares? You've used the box three times, you should be able to do it."

"Probably," I said, still not taking my eyes from the TV.

It was silent for a moment.

"Okay, so get up, and take me to the cube!"

I shrugged, hiding my grin at how much fun it was to piss Sugar off. "You know where it is."

"You're a moron! I can't use the cube without-"

"Sugar, I think Santana is just concerned that the rest of the group isn't here to transfer the power _with_ us. We've always done it _together_," Mercedes reasoned softly.

"Are you all gay?" Sugar demanded.

"Well, actually-" I started.

"I don't care! I've waited long enough, and I want the power _now_."

Mercedes smiled tightly and tried one more time. "Don't you want it to be-"

"No. NOW!"

"Oh, fucking _Christ_, okay," I growled, getting up and jostling past Sugar, who was still stretched out like some kind of over-dramatic porn star on the doorframe. She wobbled a little as I shoved rudely past, looking like an excited puppy that I didn't have time to stop and pet. Mercedes followed me into the empty room that held the blue box.

I carefully opened the glass case and lifted the box out. I had never held it before, only touched it for brief instances. It hummed to life, glowing faintly, and I stared at it, getting lost in my thoughts. Well, until Mercedes placed her hand on one side of the box, offering me a supportive smile.

I looked over at Sugar and tried to hold in my disgust as she held her hand out.

In her hand was the Yeerk, Brhaad 626.

I thought about how easy it would be to just crush it, but then I remembered everything that Brhaad 626 had done for us, either selfishly or unselfishly, and the protective way Sugar was cradling it in her hand, and I shoved the feeling away.

Sugar hesitantly reached forward to let Brhaad 626 press one of its feelers (it looked like a palp or something, I guess- if Yeerks had, like, mouths or whatever) to the blue box, and the box glowed brighter for a moment before it dimmed, the familiar tingle shooting through my fingertips. Sugar's face was illuminated by the glow of the box, whether in excitement over the fact that soon, with Brhaad 626 gone, her brain would be devoid of most of the intelligence it had enjoyed, or in genuine support for her Yeerk getting the transforming power, I didn't know. I also didn't really care.

"Do you," I started hesitantly. "Do _you_ want the power?" I figured I might as well offer it to Sugar, I mean, she'd been with us for so long-

"No," she said simply. I waited a moment, but she didn't explain.

"Just- no?"

"Yep."

"So, you don't-"

"I said NO. No means _no_!"

"Okay, Jesus," I muttered, pulling the box in closer to me and putting it back in the glass case. "Fucking _psycho_."

When I turned back around, Sugar had already lifted Brhaad 626 back up to her head. I could just make out the tail end of the Yeerk slithering into her ear, and I shuddered. Mercedes' face held a look of similar disgust.

Once back under control of her Yeerk, Sugar skipped out of the room happily and I released a heavy breath. "Uh. Wow."

"You're tellin' me," Mercedes said as we both just stared after the spot where Sugar had disappeared from.

As we left the room, we ran into Sam and Quinn.

"Hey," Mercedes said softly. "How did it go?"

Quinn smiled. "Excellent." Sam nodded in agreement.

"What'd you guys get?"

"Rhinos," Sam answered, his grin growing wider in excitement.

"Cool," I said, sharing in their excitement and feeling myself growing more energized.

"Shall we go?" Quinn asked, sounding as pumped up as I was.

"Might as well," Mercedes said.

"We ran into Sugar," Sam told us as we made our way down the hall and to the lift. "She seemed unusually happy. Did something happen?"

"Yeah, we gave her the transforming power," I said with a shrug.

Sam stopped. "You _gave_ it to her?"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms defensively. "I didn't want to. She demanded it, okay?"

"She really did," Mercedes supplied. "She came in and basically dragged us to the box."

"But what about-"

"Your cheesy _Gather the Avengers_ fantasies, I know, I know. There'll be other opportunities, Sammy. We still haven't decided on adding more members or not," I pointed out.

"We can decide that when we get back," Mercedes said as Sam pouted beside her.

Once above ground, we transformed into birds (I tried not to mourn the loss of my hickeys) and flew towards the building that housed the new Yeerk Pool, keeping an eye out for Kurt and Brittany. We landed on a nearby power line and waited. Normally we wouldn't risk being spotted all together, since, you know, none of our birds hang out together in the wild. But since we really didn't give any fucks because we were about to smash a building, we all lined up on the power line awkwardly.

_[Okay, so once Kurt and Brittany get here, we go down, transform, and hit the building, fast and hard,]_ Sam said in tone that was all business.

_[Wan-ky,]_ Quinn sang, beating me to it.

_[Nice,]_ I complimented.

_[Thought so,]_ Quinn said, her trademark smirk in her voice.

_[There's Kurt,]_ Mercedes said, her owl form lifting off the power line and taking flight, heading to meet Kurt's hawk, which was steadily coming closer.

_[He's a bird- he must be guiding Brittany,]_ Quinn observed, taking to the air behind Mercedes. I flapped my wings and scanned the street, but all I spotted was-

_[A garbage truck?]_ I asked incredulously.

Quinn laughed in genuine amusement. _[Oh, this is _perfect_!]_

_[Kurt, what happened?]_ Sam asked as Kurt approached us in the air. _[Where's Brittany?]_

_[She's in that garbage truck,]_ Kurt said tersely, sounding put out. I looked down the road and saw the green and yellow garbage truck slowly meandering up the street inconspicuously.

_[What happened to the earth-mover you were _supposed_ to get?]_ I demanded.

_[Brittany liked the garbage truck,]_ Kurt groused.

_[And you _let_ her?]_

_[It was easier to steal,]_ Kurt answered delicately.

I sighed.

Mercedes sighed, too. _[Well, that's unfortunate.]_

_[Maybe not,] _Quinn pointed out. _[Brittany picked the kind that lifts dumpsters; it has the spikes on the front of it. I'm sure they'll be helpful.]_

_[I guess so,]_ Sam relented. _[We don't have time to go get anything else.]_

_ [We'll make it work, it'll be fine,]_ I said_. [Let's just do this.]_

_[Okay,]_ Sam sighed. _[Everyone down. Transform. Kurt? Guide Brittany.]_

Kurt silently peeled off and circled the garbage truck, while the rest of us floated down to the parking lot and to the, well, dumpster area, which was corralled by a medium-sized wall. It wasn't big enough to hold all of us once we bulked up, but it would conceal us for most of our transformations, and by the time the Yeerks spotted us, it would be too late.

I landed on the pavement and focused on my human self while the others did the same. My feathers melted into flesh, my beak softened into lips. Black hair sprouted from my head and I shot up, growing to my normal height. Once I was fully human, I took a deep breath and concentrated on Taurus the Bull.

This time, the first changes were my ears. They stretched out, sliding up the side of my head. A tail sprouted from the end of my spine and I felt an itching sensation in my mouth as my teeth shifted into the bull's. I looked around me and saw Quinn, Sam, and Mercedes halfway transformed into indistinguishable blobs of gray. Tusks were sprouting out of Mercedes' mouth. Quinn's face had stretched out into the rhino's, and Sam had a horn where his nose should be. All three of them were huge and growing bigger with each passing moment.

My shoulders bulked up and I staggered out of the dumpster corral just as I lost the ability to stand. I fell forward onto all fours and my hands and feet shifted into sharp hooves. My horns were the last things to come forward, but then they were shooting out of my forehead and I felt the bull's confidence bubbling up beneath my own.

Quinn lumbered up beside me, and the bull felt uneasy based solely on the fact that Quinn's rhino was so large. She towered over me. When Mercedes lumbered up on my other side and I swished my tail in nervousness.

_[Jeez, warn me next time,]_ I said, pawing the ground nervously. I snorted and tossed my head, trying to give myself something to do besides stand in the shadows of two gigantic animals that could probably stomp my ass out in the blink of an eye.

Sam stepped out from Mercedes' other side, also towering over me. _[We don't have much time. By now the Yeerks know we're here, and if they don't, they will soon.]_

Quinn nodded her big rhino head. _[Let's go. Lead the way, Sam.]_

Sam turned, his head held up proudly. Then, after a moment, his shoulders slumped. _[I actually can't see that far,]_ he admitted awkwardly.

_[Uh-huh,]_ Quinn smirked_. [Mercedes, how's the vision?]_

_[Oh, I _see_ what you did,]_ Mercedes said. _[Stand aside, rhinos. Satan and I will lead the way.]_ She turned her massive head to me. _[You ready?]_

_ [As I'll ever be.]_

Mercedes almost seemed to be smiling, even as an elephant, as she said, _[Then let's charge!]_ She threw her trunk up in the air and trumpeted loudly, taking off at a steady run.

I rushed after her, and together we approached the front of the building. Brittany had already steered the garbage truck to the same spot, and she sputtered along slightly ahead of us as we all ran at full speed.

_[Stay with us!] _I called back to Quinn and Sam, who were loping along behind us. All together we were over 12 tons of muscle and raw power- not including the garbage truck- and we were heading straight for the building.

_[YAAAAAAAAAHHH!] _Mercedes lowered her head as we neared impact, just behind Brittany's garbage truck. The front doors were made of glass, so the second the truck hit the wall, the entire thing crumbled and glass shards flew everywhere within seconds. It didn't even slow us down. The garbage truck drove on, tearing through a wall, and Mercedes turned her massive head, taking out a connecting wall. Quinn and Sam split, charging separately into two other walls and knocking them down as if they were made of cardboard.

Plaster, sheetrock, and glass flew everywhere. Wood splintered and cracked. Mercedes leaned her gigantic weight against a concrete support pillar and I heard it begin to give way.

_[Uh, we probably shouldn't be down here when the whole place comes down,]_ I said nervously. It takes a lot to stop an elephant or a rhino, but if the building collapsed on us it was safe to say we'd all definitely be crushed to death.

_[Let's weaken the support pillars first, and then-]_

BLAM! BLAM! BLAMBLAMBLAM!

_[Ow! Really?]_ Quinn asked, obviously irked. She turned towards the Controller who'd shot her and hit him with the force of a semi. He flew back like he weighed nothing and landed on the ground. He didn't get up.

_[There's bound to be more guys,]_ Sam said quickly. _[And Yeerks. With Dracon beams.]_

_[And then this party will cease being fun,]_ I commented dryly.

_[We need to hurry,]_ Mercedes agreed.

A loud crack and then what sounded like rushing water sounded in the distance, and I turned my bull head. A small flood of water came into the room from a hallway, soaking the carpet of the huge lobby we had wrecked. There was a path of destruction indicating the direction Brittany had gone with the garbage truck. She must have smashed a glass tank-

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

I ducked and ran behind part of a smashed-up wall as more bullets whizzed by my head. _[Okay, so _what's_ the plan again?] _

_[Weaken the supports and get out,] _Sam said easily.

_[Of course,]_ I muttered. Why did I think it was going to be different with the added bonus of Controllers shooting at us?

_[UGH! I'm getting really tired of these morons,]_ Quinn snarled as more bullet holes appeared in her thick, gray hide. She charged the guy with the gun, but due to her dim rhino vision, missed and hit the wall next to him. Unfortunately, rhinos can't exactly stop on a dime, so she kept going, smashing through another wall.

_[Santana, go with her!]_ Sam said. _[I'll stay with Mercedes and hit the other end of the building. Brittany's on her own.]_

_[She'll be all right,]_ I said confidently, trying to reassure myself as much as them. I took off after Quinn, pausing only to gouge the Controller with the gun she had missed. He fell to the squishy, wet floor, clutching his stomach in agony where I had scraped my horns across it. I think there was blood, I don't know.

When I caught up with Quinn, she was standing, looking very peaceful, near a support pillar. We were in a huge room. It wasn't the room that housed the Yeerk Pool itself, but it was a central type room where several halls split off from and lead to different exhibits and areas of the building.

_[What's up, Q? Get lost?]_

_ [No,]_ she said shakily. _[It's- it's Puck.]_

* * *

A chill ran down my spine at Quinn's observation, but as I whirled to look, I realized with a sickening dread that she was right- Puck was standing in the middle of the room, smirking. He had six or seven Hork-Bajir flanking him, and he looked incredibly cocky and arrogant- he looked just like _Puck_. But just like the last time I'd seen him, he felt _wrong_. It made the hairs on my bull body stand on end, and I lowered my head to glare at him.

_[Sam!]_ I called.

_[Yeah?] _He responded, but he sounded far away.

_[Puck,]_ I said simply.

Sam was silent for a moment; then he said, _[On it. We'll be right there.]_

Puck sized us up, his trademark smirk never leaving his face. "So it looks like I was right," he said casually. "I knew you'd be back."

_[Well then you're not a total idiot,] _I snarled, but Puck- or Visser Seven, rather- didn't get angry. He grinned wider.

"I guess it sucks having someone personal on the enemy side, huh?"

I shrugged my bull shoulders. _[Not really. Any dumbass could've figured out we were coming back.]_

This time, Puck's face showed a hint of anger, but it quickly vanished.

"Santana," (I cringed at the sound of my name coming from Puck's mouth, with Puck's voice) "I see you're still a bull. But who's the rhino? Sam? Your little Andalite _sex slave_, or-"

_[It's_ Quinn,_ you bastard,]_ Quinn snarled, surprising me with her vicious tone. I wasn't sure if she was mad about the Brittany comment, or just seeing Puck enslaved in general, but her amount of venom matched my own so I wasn't complaining.

"Oh, Quinn," Puck said, his eyes hardening. "I see they absorbed you into the team. How fortunate for you. I suppose Sub-Visser Seventeen is lost, then? What a pity." He didn't sound upset at all. He sounded glad, actually. I guess he didn't like the Sub-Visser- not that I really cared, because the conversation was about to come to an end.

_[If you want, I'll be more than happy to let you visit him,]_ I growled, coiling my powerful muscles and preparing myself to lunge forward and take Puck out. I focused on his Mohawk, honing in on it.

Puck laughed, and I tensed, but just then, Sam and Mercedes came barreling into the room from an opposite hallway; they halted when they spied Puck.

_[Noah!]_ Mercedes cried. _[Oh, my God!]_

"Mercedes," Puck acknowledged. My skin was crawling at his sugary pleasantries. What was he getting at? Was he trying to anger us? I heard another loud crack in the distance. Brittany was still bringing the place down. We were, as always, running out of time. Puck ignored the obvious noise and looked at Sam, nodding. "I see _you've_ acquired a new form, and you know what? So have I. I'd _love_ to show it to you."

_[We'd love to see it, but we really don't have time,]_ I snapped.

Puck grinned, and I noticed he was transforming, growing in size. "Oh, but I insisssssst!" he said, just as his tongue elongated out of his mouth, splitting down the middle.

_[Go!]_ Sam yelled, and we all rushed to attack Puck. However, we had to cut through the seven Hork-Bajir in our way to get to him, and he was growing larger by the second.

_[Oh my God,]_ Mercedes wailed, horrified_. [What is he turning into?]_

_[I don't know,] _Quinn said tightly. She head-butted a Hork-Bajir, and lifted up slightly onto her hind legs to stomp a second one with both her front feet. I had to admit, I was impressed.

I hit a Hork-Bajir low and tossed him behind me as I plowed right through him. I swung my head and hit another Hork-Bajir in the ribs, and glanced at the thing Puck was becoming.

He was smaller than Quinn's rhino, but can we talk about how creepy he looked? He had eight legs- like a spider- but he had a tubular mouth and a pair of leathery-looking wings behind his head that couldn't possibly support him enough to fly. His skin was green and slimy, almost froglike. I couldn't tear my eyes away from how foreign and awful his form was.

_[The fuck?]_ I demanded.

_[Do you like my new form?]_ Puck asked, flexing his long, spindly legs out. _[It's called a _Kaftid_.]_

_[Looks stupid,]_ I said, trying to mask the involuntary fear I was feeling with nonchalance. Truthfully, that thing scared the shit out of me. And not only because I didn't like spiders.

_[The best part?]_ Puck continued, ignoring me, _[Is that it has this neat little _trick_.] _And before I could react, he punctuated his sentence by shooting a stream of greenish-yellow goo from his cylindrical mouth. I barely dodged it, and it hit the floor behind me, making a loud hissing noise and burning away the floor.

_[Acid!]_ Quinn cried.

_[Oh, Puck, I always knew you had a thing for drugs,]_ I taunted as I dodged another jet of acid.

Ssssss-PLOOSH! Ssssss-PLOOSH! Ssssss-PLOOSH!

Acid was in the air everywhere, and Puck's _Kaftid_ was surprisingly fast- just like a spider on his eight legs. He avoided every attempt I made to strike him, and ran nimbly between Sam and Quinn. Acid hit walls, floors, support beams, and ate away at the materials, melting them. The sound of burning wood and plaster filled my bull nose, striking an instinctual fear in me. I heard the remaining support pillars groan under the weight of the rest of the building. Puck was _kind_ of doing our job for us. It confused me- Visser Seven wasn't that dumb, was he?

_[Aggh! I'm hit!]_ Mercedes cried. Of course she got hit- she's a fucking _elephant_. _Ugh_. I felt myself growing frustrated at the fact that none of us were able to even touch Puck's _Kaftid_- that we were tiring ourselves out chasing him and dodging his acid attacks, but he didn't seem to be running out of acid, _fuck_. On top of that, the building was going to collapse in the very near future. It was madness.

_[Transform!]_ Sam screamed. _[I'll cover you!]_

_[There's no way,]_ I said. _[He'll burn her alive! You guys have got to get out of here. I'll distract Puck.]_

_[Me, too,]_ Quinn said determinedly. She stomped closer to him, and he spit acid at her, which she barely avoided. She couldn't avoid the next shot, though. It hit her in the shoulder, and I saw her flesh disintegrating. She didn't cry out, though_. [Noah, I know you're inside there. Don't give up- someday, we're going to-]_

_[Noah is _gone_!]_ Puck- Visser Seven- gloated. _[He's given up! It's just me now, and the whimpering, cowering thoughts of the once-strong Noah Puckerman!]_

_[That's not true,]_ I snarled. It wasn't, was it? No way would Puck have given up, he'd only been a Controller for- for- _shit_. I had no idea what being a Controller was like. But Quinn did. She'd been a Controller longer than Sam, so she knew if it was possible to give up so quickly.

_ [Lies,]_ Quinn agreed angrily.

_[I guess you'll never know the truth,]_ Puck sneered, then resumed spitting acid at us. Part of a stream got me in the hind leg, and I stumbled, but I ignored the burning sensation of my muscles melting away and did a half-run, half-hop as Quinn followed behind me and Puck chased us.

I tripped, sliding across the floor and luckily avoiding a splash of acid that would've hit me in the face if I hadn't. Sometimes it pays to be clumsy, I guess. I climbed shakily back to my hooves, exhausted, and was about to take off again, when bright lights blinded me, and a loud noise that sounded suspiciously like a garbage truck horn echoed off the walls- well, the ones that were still intact.

Before I could even blink, the garbage truck came careening down the hall and smashed into the wall behind Quinn, effectively cutting Puck off from us. Then, because my life just couldn't get worse, the impact caused the truck's gas tank to explode, and the shockwave knocked me to the ground. Thanks to her size, Quinn barely stumbled from the force of the explosion, quickly regaining her footing. I scrambled back up and eyed the flaming garbage truck.

_[Ugh,]_ I bellowed, flaring my bull nostrils. Not only did the garbage truck smell like shit- but now it smelled like shit- _on fire_. There was no sign of Puck's _Kaftid_, or Brittany. She must have escaped and ran the opposite way down the hall. At least, I hoped she had, and wasn't still in the garbage truck, which had evolved into a blazing inferno of the worst smells imaginable. Within seconds the flames had spread to the walls and were eating away at the building. I inhaled sharply, struggling to breathe as thick smoke clogged the air, choking on the repulsive scent of burning garbage.

_ [We have to get out of here,]_ Quinn said faintly in my head_. [I can barely breathe.]_

_[You need to transform into something smaller,]_ I said, struggling to control my form. The bull was panicking- it didn't like fire. It didn't like smoke. It wanted to run, and I wasn't that far behind it. _[And we need to get gone before this whole building collapses.]_

_ [Guys? The first two floors are on fire, and it's spreading. Now would be an excellent time to get the hell out of there,]_ Kurt called, sounding very far away. _[It's become increasingly unstable; it could go at any time.]_

_ [Santana, Quinn? Get out,]_ Sam called, also sounding far away. Get out? Gee, what an idea! _[Mercedes and I are almost to the exit, we're going to take out the last pillar as soon as you give us the word.]_

_[Where's Brittany?]_ Quinn asked before I got a chance.

My bull coughed involuntarily. I didn't even know bulls could cough, but it was definitely a wake-up call. We needed to haul ass out of this place, like, last week.

_[…seen her…]_ Sam answered, barely in range.

_[Well, that was helpful information,]_ I muttered. _[Let's go, Q, no time to transform now.]_

_ [I'll make it,] _Quinn said, but she definitely didn't sound like she was going to. She stumbled as we walked and I grew more concerned. She was taller than me so her head was in the smoke. The fire had spread ahead of us, and when we entered a room with a tank of water, Quinn wasted no time in ramming her head into it, shattering the glass. Water shot out from the opening, breaking the remaining glass, and shards and water sprayed everywhere. Quinn's rhino gasped, but the heated water only made the room more humid, made the air thicker, and now it was even harder to breathe.

_[Come on,]_ I said, pushing onward, and Quinn fell into step behind me.

_[San- Santana,]_ Quinn said weakly_. [I don't-]_

_ [You will,]_ I snapped, cutting her off. _[We're almost out. Just a little-]_ I stopped as I reached a dead end. Fuck. Quinn was too weak to smash the wall and I couldn't take it out as a bull. We could either turn around the way we came, back towards the heart of the flames, or-

Quinn sat down suddenly. At any other time and in any other situation, the sight of a rhino sitting down abruptly might've made me laugh. But now it just made me feel helpless.

_[We're trapped, aren't we?]_ Quinn asked, sounding like she was high and in some other place.

I peered at her through the smoky haze of the room. I was sweating, it was so _hot_. Sooner or later the fire would burn down the wall in front of us. But with my luck, it would be later, and we'd be dead by then. Before I could answer Quinn, however, I heard a loud cracking noise. Oh, fuck, the building was coming down-

The thick wall ripped away bit by bit as Brittany's tailblade slashed through it. Within seconds there was a hole big enough for me to climb through, and I blinked at Brittany's presence.

_[Hi,]_ Brittany said cheerfully. _[I thought you might like some assistance.]_

_ [How did you know we were here?]_ I asked dumbly.

Brittany shrugged. _[I listened to your thought-speak. We should probably go.]_

I turned to Quinn. _[Transform now, Q.]_ She didn't answer, but she began to shrink, and after several long, tense moments, she stood in her normal human body, dressed in a black leotard with fresh pink lungs that could inhale smoke all over again. Quinn coughed harshly and climbed through the hole in the wall, and I followed.

Brittany led us over to another wall, and whipped her tail forward again.

FWACK! FWACK! FWACK!

The wall gave way, and sunlight poked in from the hole. I had never been so grateful to see sunlight. I'd had enough aquariums, fire, and _garbage_ to last me the rest of my life, however long that was going to be.

Quinn stumbled out through the hole and collapsed with relief on the grass a few feet away. I clopped over to her, taking in her smiling face. I focused on my human self and shrank- my tail sucking back into my body, my hooves splitting into fingers- and within moments I sat sprawled in the grass next to Quinn.

_[You guys might not want to lie there,]_ Kurt advised. _[You know, when the building comes crumbling down. Just saying. Sam, they're clear!] _

_ [Got it! Say good-bye to this place, everyone! Mercedes- Go!]_ Sam said from the other side of the building. He sounded a lot closer.

I heard an elephant trumpeting for a moment, and then a loud splintering noise. Then I decided to heed Kurt's advice and get the fuck away from the building. I focused on the Mississippi Kite DNA inside me, and began the change to bird. Quinn did the same beside me, and Brittany was already fully duck, watching me with her warm, golden eyes.

Once we were all fully bird, we took flight, and flapped hard to gain altitude above the building. We made it in the air just as the building began to collapse in on itself. Dust and smoke clouds plumed into the air, and I spotted Mercedes, in elephant form, charging away from the building, with Sam the Rhino behind her. Once they were a safe distance, they began the change to human and then bird. I didn't miss the big sloppy kiss they shared on the ground before transforming to bird, and I smiled to myself. But then, I remembered- I scanned the ground, looking for-

_[There,]_ Brittany said tensely, and I turned to see a huge, pterodactyl-like creature rising into the air. It was leathery and bright red, and had several sets of wings.

Puck.

The pterodactyl thing hesitated, eying us for a moment, before it turned and glided smoothly away, flapping its sets of wings in tandem. An involuntary shiver ran through me- we _still_ hadn't saved Puck.

_[We did it, guys!]_ Sam said enthusiastically, but I couldn't share in his enthusiasm as we all turned and flew in the direction of the Motta Mansion.

_[He had to _touch_ that thing to acquire it,]_ I said bitterly.

_[I was thinking the same thing,]_ Quinn said, disgusted.

_[Well,]_ Mercedes started softly, _[maybe that's why we haven't seen him. Maybe they- I don't know, took him to another planet to acquire some nasty aliens?]_

_[Unlikely,]_ Brittany laughed. _[The Yeerks have faster-than-light travel, but their ships still do not rival an Andalite Dome Ship in terms of speed. And even an Andalite Dome Ship cannot travel to Sector 4, WD-251-2 and back in less than two Earth weeks.]_

_ [Obviously,]_ Kurt said flatly.

_[It's more likely that the Yeerks keep several alien specimens on their Pool Ship, in orbit.]_

_ [Pool Ship?]_ Mercedes asked. _[Oh, Lord, please don't tell me-]_

_ [In orbit?]_ Sam asked, horrified.

_[Yes,]_ Brittany said, slowly, hesitantly. _[Surely you didn't think that the Yeerks you have encountered thus far were the _total_ invasion?]_

We were all silent for a moment as we let that sink in.

_[So, the Pool Ship,]_ Kurt started timidly.

_[The Yeerks keep it in orbit. It contains a vast Yeerk Pool- ten times the size of the one located on Earth- and it holds the Yeerks waiting for hosts, as well as the Yeerks who already have hosts who are not on the planet. It's essentially their home base- like a Mother Ship, supported by the resources on Earth. All of the water and minerals required to sustain life are shuttled up to the ship. Host bodies must eat, too.]_

_ [Britt- how many Yeerks would you say are on that ship?]_ I asked.

_[Well, I don't know the exact number, but if I had to estimate, I would say anywhere from fifteen to twenty thousand.]_

Fifteen to twenty thousand Yeerks.

Fifteen to twenty _thousand_.

And there were still more, weren't there? If the Yeerks took Earth, they could supply every Yeerk with a host, and expand even further. There were _billions_ of humans on Earth that were capable hosts. We would more than satisfy the Yeerks' needs for hosts, and then? We were all grimly silent as we contemplated what would happen if we lost. It wasn't just Earth at stake- it was kind of, to sound dramatic, the whole _universe_.

But also- the Pool Ship. If we destroyed that, somehow…

I was shaken from my thoughts by the collective gasps of Kurt, Quinn, and Mercedes.

_[What?]_ Sam asked, dazed, as I looked down.

The Motta Mansion had been burned to the ground.

* * *

_[How did the Yeerks figure it out?]_ Sam demanded.

_[Puck's always known Sugar was our ally,]_ Kurt pointed out.

_[Yeah, but he hasn't done anything about it until now,]_ I said, taking in the sight of the still-smoking, scorched black ground.

_[That explains why he engaged us earlier,]_ Quinn said bitterly. _[He was trying to distract us and give his henchmen more time to destroy this place.]_

_ [Do you think all of its gone?]_ Mercedes asked, her voice laced with fear.

_[If you mean our parents, then-]_ Kurt started but I interrupted.

_[No. Puck knew about the above-ground parts of the mansion, but he didn't know about the _Batcave_. That should all be fine.]_

_[How did they get through the force-fields?]_ Brittany muttered.

I wondered that, myself.

We circled down to the building that held the lift. It was mostly a pile of wreckage, but we managed to squeeze our way inside and activate the lift. To operate, it only required us to move some wood beams and planks. The lift ran like normal, but once we entered the halls that had become familiar to us in the weeks since we'd been living there, Sugar greeted us with a solemn face.

"Visser Seven finally decided he'd pay me a visit," she said angrily. "I swear to God, if I ever meet him on the street, I'll crush him myself. I mean, who is he? Nobody! He's a Yeerk who didn't even make it into the top five Vissers, I mean, honestly!"

She continued on her rant as she led us to the sitting room. I was shocked to see Lauren, Rory, and some skinny white guy with the nappiest dreads I'd ever seen standing at some weird, awkward Attention when Sugar entered.

"These are your new zombie shelter-mates," Sugar said. "You've met Rory and Lauren, but this is Joe."

"Righteous," Dreads said. _What the?_ I frowned in response.

"They have been here with me since I left to Yeerks, and I won't leave them to die without access to the Yeerk Pool," Sugar explained. "And well, I won't be needing my own Pool anymore, so…"

I gave her a puzzled look. She wouldn't need the pool anymore? Did that mean-

Sugar turned to us, smiling brightly, and I noticed on her shoulder was a tiny animal.

A sugar glider.

What. You have _got_ to be kidding me. Can my life get any more cliché?

"Is that…?" Kurt started and Sugar lifted her hand to the sugar glider. The tiny marsupial scampered into her hand and she lifted it up to show us.

"Brhaad six two six," Mercedes breathed, covering her mouth with both of her hands.

We stood in silence for a moment, absorbing the gravity of the moment. We had finally lost our most powerful ally. But in doing so, we had helped someone escape their conquest-focused existence, escape the war. Isn't that what we all wanted? To be done with the war? I reached for Brittany's hand and wondered, if given the option to escape the war with Brittany, would I take it? I honestly didn't know.

Sugar beamed at us, cradling the sugar glider in her palm. "He's finally done with the war," she said softly, her voice shaking with emotion, with _joy_. A tear streaked down her cheek.

"He's finally free."

* * *

**So, Sugar is now a normal human with no Yeerk in her brain. **

**And they mentioned adding kids to the group, hmmm, wonder who those might be... ;)**

**Stay tuned, I guess. :B**

**Review if you feel like it, but if not, well, I accept it. ._.**

**See you next Monday with another exciting (read: boring) chapter!**


	23. Capable

**DARLING READERS.**

**I AM SO SORRY LIKE THE NEW YORK JETS ARE SORRY (and they're my team, so I'm allowed to say that.) First, Christmas happened, and then I got sick so I couldn't do the final touches on the chapter, and just, ugh! I hate missing my self-imposed deadline more than you guys hate it, so again, I apologize from the bottom of my upset NFL team. ****In any case, here is the next chapter, and I will have another update- the second part to this subplot- for you on Monday, cross my little heart!**

**I hope everyone had a great holiday, regardless of what it is you celebrate. :D**

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, lurked (and everything else) the last chapter. I appreciate you all. :) **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

"Britt, honey- you can't eat that," I said gently, tugging on her wrist as she lifted a potato to her mouth. She gave me a puzzled look, but lowered the potato back down to the bin with the others.

"I thought this was food."

"First of all," I said, sliding my hand from her wrist to her palm and lacing our fingers together, "it needs to be cooked before you eat it. You can't eat it raw. And second of all," I tugged her hand to turn her so that she was facing me instead of the bin of potatoes, "you can't eat anything here until you pay for it."

"Oh," she breathed.

"You understand?" I asked, cupping her chin and bringing her face closer to mine for a sweet, short kiss.

"I think so."

I smiled. "Good. Now let's look at the rest of the list and-"

"Is this organic?" Kurt interrupted as he stepped up next to us, thrusting some weird fruit that looked like a yam or a papaya or some other crazy shit from another country in our faces.

"Does it look like I even know what that is?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"It's a pomegranate," Kurt snapped, like I _should_ know.

"Well forgive me for not being as _fruity_ as you-"

"Look, I just wanted to get some variety, I'm tired of eating Pop Tarts," Kurt complained.

"So get the stupid Pomeranian." I shrugged.

"_Pomegranate_. And not if it's not organic."

"It's organic," Brittany said confidently, giving Kurt a firm nod.

Kurt eyed her warily. "How do you know?" He rolled the papaya or whatever over in his hands, inspecting it for a tag that he might have missed.

"It's a plant, is it not? And plants are made of carbon on this planet, correct? Therefore, being from a living organism, it is considered organic-"

I laughed as Kurt frowned at Brittany's scientific explanation and stormed away, taking his papaya with him. "Nevermind," he huffed, and I turned to Brittany, grinning.

"You're a genius, Britt."

The three of us were, obviously, at the grocery store. It was my turn to do the shopping with Kurt- Brittany accompanied us because I made her (although she wanted to come anyways.) Sugar had given me the Motta business credit card and a list of groceries we were low on. She said we could get whatever else we wanted, which was why Queen Fruity Loops was scanning the fruit section. Sometimes it was awesome having a filthy rich sponsor like Sugar around. And in the few days she'd spent so far with Brhaad 626 out of her brain, Sugar had actually become a _lot_ more pleasant _to_ be around.

Kurt, however, had not.

"Look! This says it's all natural," he said, pointing to a package of red, bleeding steaks.

"How can it be _unnatural_? It's meat, not SPAM," I said as I strolled next to him.

Kurt scowled at me. "I don't know why I bother."

I shrugged and offered him a toothy grin. "Me, either."

Kurt continued to scan the different foods in the aisle. Brittany pushed the cart alongside us, questioning different things that I really had no answers for. Like how something could have zero calories, why most frozen foods were on sticks, what made something "lite" when it felt just as heavy as the original, etc. It was hard to explain about fat and calories and stuff. I held the grocery list and walked next to Brittany, occasionally stroking her gloved hand (it was cold outside, so she'd worn cute, fuzzy gloves and a matching furry hat with a scarf) and feeling warm inside at how cute and domestic we were. I let my mind imagine how things would be after we won the war, indulging in a rare guilty pleasure of mine. I didn't allow myself to be hopeful and optimistic too often- getting killed was still a very real possibility, after all- but every once and a while I just couldn't help myself. Brittany made me fond of even the most basic, mundane tasks. I smiled lovingly at Brittany, and she smiled back, and if it weren't for Kurt sulking nearby, it would've been perfect.

"Can you two stop that?" Kurt hissed.

"Stop what?" I asked, letting my thumb stroke circles on the back of Brittany's hand on the cart handle.

"Being so nauseating."

"Yeah, no, sorry," I shrugged. "It's kind of impossible."

"Is there something on my face that is making you so nauseous?" Brittany asked worriedly.

"Just Satan's eyes," Kurt grumbled.

"And lips," I added with a taunting smirk, leaning in to give Brittany a lingering kiss on the cheek, smiling even more when Brittany closed her eyes and sighed in response.

Kurt rolled his eyes and stormed away again, and I laughed.

He was just too easy.

After what seemed like hours, we had a cart full of stuff. Most of it was stuff we didn't need, because Brittany wanted to try it. She and Kurt had been debating over most of the items, but Brittany always seemed to win, because I wasn't the only one who had a hard time telling her _no_. I mostly ignored their good-natured prattling and got lost in my daydreams of what our future would be like, and despite the fact that Kurt and Brittany were driving me bonkers together, I kind of hoped that all my grocery store trips would be like this.

"But this says it has nine essential vitamins and minerals," Brittany was saying, holding a box of something up so Kurt could see. Kurt snatched it out of her hand and said something in response, but I was zoned out, staring absent-mindedly down the aisle. A girl walked through my field of vision and my stomach froze, my focus snapping back instantly.

I was pretty sure I recognized that girl.

As if in a trance, I slowly began to walk to the end of the aisle. Kurt and Brittany stopped arguing as I walked by them, and turned to me.

"Santana?" Brittany asked gently from behind me.

I didn't answer. I reached the end of the aisle and carefully turned the corner.

Sure enough, the girl I thought I recognized was standing, looking over a kiosk of exotic cheeses or whatever. I didn't notice what products she was scrutinizing, I only noticed her face.

"Is that-?" Kurt breathed, sounding shaken, and I nodded firmly.

"It's Tina."

* * *

"Then what happened?" Mercedes asked.

We were back in the _Batcave_, regaling everyone with the exciting details of our grocery trip, and our run-in with Tina.

"We followed her," Kurt said. "She went across the street to the gas station."

"The gas station?" Quinn repeated, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

"The whole thing was shady as hell," I said, supporting Kurt's statement. "But you'll never guess who she met there." I looked at Sam, Quinn, and Mercedes' faces. They looked overwhelmed; like there were so many choices they didn't know who to start with. I suddenly realized there were a lot of possibilities that person could have been. We clearly knew too many Controllers- something we were going to have to fix.

"Mike," Kurt said finally.

"What?!" Mercedes demanded. "I thought he-"

"-moved, I did, too," I said. "But I guess the Yeerks just made the non-Controllers believe that, so we wouldn't think it was suspicious that he just disappeared."

"Makes sense, I guess," Sam said with a nod.

"So what did they meet about?" Quinn asked.

"Something involving Tina's Yeerk's job," I said. "She's in charge of the protection of the Kandrona."

Quinn's eyes widened. "Oh, shit."

Brittany nodded, chiming in for the first time. "It's an extremely important job, as all Yeerk life is based around the functioning of the Kandrona."

"We don't know much about it," Sam admitted. "We haven't really needed to." He looked hopefully at Quinn and then Brittany. "I know a little bit from being infested, but we should _all_ be on the same page."

Quinn grinned slyly and looked at Brittany. "You want to explain this one, B?"

Brittany shrugged, a little hesitant. "If I must." She looked at the others. "The Kandrona is the Yeerks' home sun. The radiation in the rays is crucial to Yeerk survival. The sludgy water from the Yeerk Pool traps the radiation and when the Yeerks swim in it, they absorb the radiation particles. As you know, they need to absorb these particles every three days or they will perish."

"So we know that the Yeerks have, like, a machine or something to recreate the radiation given off by their sun," Mercedes stated. "Sugar has one here. Which means the Yeerks must have a bigger one to support their own, larger Pool."

"Exactly," Quinn stated. "The question is _where_."

"We find it, we destroy it," Sam said matter-of-factly. "We can sneak in to another New Directions meeting."

"Or just continue to follow Tina," Kurt supplied.

"That won't actually be necessary," Sugar called from the doorway. We all looked over to her as she shook her head. "I can tell you where it is."

"The Kandrona?" Kurt clarified.

Sugar nodded. "It's in the Sunshine and Harmony National Reserve. You know, that small square of mountains a little south of here?"

"Deeper into the woods close to home," Sam said, sounding a little bit excited. "That makes sense, no one goes out there. So no one would bother it."

"And it's high up, so it would transmit better," Quinn agreed, also sounding enthused.

"I'm not really sure how it transmits at _all_ through concrete and stuff, but, hey, I'm not a radiation expert," Mercedes said with a shrug.

Sam looked at me. "Santana? You're unusually quiet."

I shrugged. "Just thinking. This is kind of a big deal. The Kandrona is the Yeerks' life source. It's not going to be easy to take down. It's going to be heavily guarded, probably under similar protection to what we encountered when we snatched Quinn." I paused, letting that sink in. Everyone's excitement suddenly seeped out of them, and I felt bad, but I needed everyone to be prepared. We were going up against some serious shit.

"We barely made it out of that one," Kurt said softly.

"Well, then I think now would be a good time to address adding some more members again," Sam said.

I looked at him. "Right before an important mission? Are you insane?"

"Look, we need the help," Sam argued. "Even _you_ just stated that we're going into a serious fight here." He gestured to Quinn. "We're already stronger with just one person. Think of how much stronger we will be with a few more. The more numbers we have on our side, the better our chances of coming out alive."

"Quinn was a lucky choice," Kurt stated. "She was already infested, and thanks to our own personal relationships with her and the timing, we were able to add her. We'll never be able to recreate that."

"What about Sugar?" Sam offered, looking at her.

"Nope," Sugar said, and I was mildly surprised. She'd been so quiet I'd forgotten she was in the room with us. "I'd rather keep my hands as clean as possible. I know too much about both sides of this. Conflict of interest." She shrugged.

"Must be nice," I sulked. Brittany grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently.

"Okay, no Sugar. What about her minions?" Quinn asked doubtfully. "Joe, Lauren, Rory?"

I shook my head. "We don't know them well enough. Besides, they're all still Controllers. Too risky."

"So we pick someone we know," Mercedes said with a shrug. "We just saw Tina, and we already know she's a Controller."

"And what if she's like Finn?" Kurt shot back.

I nodded. "That's right- what if she's voluntary? What if we give her the power, and then she turns on us at the first opportunity? We'd really be finished, then."

"We could try people who aren't Controllers, then," Mercedes tried.

"But how would we know they aren't?" I asked. "We don't have time to watch someone for three days."

"Right," Quinn agreed.

"Well, then I don't know," Mercedes snapped.

"Come on, guys, think," Sam urged. "There's got to be a group of people that the Yeerks wouldn't infest."

"Yeah- cripples," I muttered. I paused, realizing what I'd just said. "Wait-"

We all stopped.

"Incapable host bodies," Brittany agreed, nodding her head. "The Yeerks won't infest hosts that are not at one hundred percent health and capability."

"That's it," Sam whispered. "We find someone who's disabled."

Mercedes grinned. "I have the perfect person in mind."

* * *

_[So tell me again why we couldn't visit this kid at normal visiting people hours?] _I growled.

_[We don't want his family involved,]_ Sam said below me for probably the millionth time.

We were all in bird form, (except for Sam, who was a golden retriever) crammed onto a branch in a tree outside of the house belonging to whom I liked to refer to as Stubble McCripple Pants- in the dead of night. Originally, just Mercedes, Brittany and Kurt were going to go. But then Sam wanted to go because he was _the leader_, and then I wanted to go because of Brittany, and of course Quinn didn't want to be left out and she could offer some really helpful advice as our newest member-

And so we were all, sans Sam, crammed onto the branch.

In the dead of night.

_[So how are we going to do this?]_ Quinn asked.

_[The same way we do everything,]_ I said cheerfully. _[By the seat of our pants.]_

_[I don't think doing anything in that manner is very conducive to productivity,]_ Brittany said thoughtfully.

_[Exactly, Britt,]_ Kurt said.

_[So then why did-]_

_ [Okay, enough,] _Sam grumbled, pacing on the sidewalk below. He was in dog form because someone had to carry the blue box- he had a small fanny pack buckled around his torso_. [Here's what we'll do: Mercedes and Quinn will fly down. Kurt, you're on surveillance. Once Mercedes and Kurt tell us it's safe, the rest of us will go in. We wake Arty up, tell him what's going on, offer him the power.]_

_[Simple enough,]_ I reasoned. _[Until everything that can possibly go wrong happens, of course.]_

_ [Of course,] _Kurt agreed cheerfully before lifting off into the air.

All we had to do was break into this kid's house in the dead of night, wake him up, convince him we weren't burglars and also not crazy, because we _also_ had to inform him of a secret alien invasion, and when the kid looks at us like we're nuts, we'll tell him it's okay because we have the power to change into any animal we can touch.

Yeah, I don't even think I would believe me, either.

* * *

"Arty."

Sheets rustled. The kid sat up in bed, peering into the darkness. "Who's there?"

"It's me- Mercedes."

Arty calmed considerably, snatching up his glasses from his bedside table. "Uh- what're you doing in my room?"

"I have something to tell you. Something important. I need you to listen carefully, and to be open-minded. Can you do that?" Mercedes asked gently, moving around to the side of Arty's bed. I stayed near the window with Brittany. Quinn moved to the foot of the bed to assist Mercedes in case Arty suddenly revealed he was a ninja or something. And Sam paced back and forth under the window outside, wagging his tail.

"I- _think_ so."

"Okay. I'm going to tell you something crazy- I thought it was crazy when I found out, too. But it's the truth."

"Are you in love with me?" Arty asked hopefully. I resisted the urge to smack my forehead. _Really_?

"_What_? NO. Do you believe in aliens?"

"That's like asking if someone believes in breathing," Arty stated. "Aliens exist, there's no denying it, there's been hundreds of-"

"Yeah, okay, so I'm just going to show you something and I don't want you to freak out." Mercedes turned and nodded to Brittany and Quinn. Quinn flipped the switch on the wall, bathing the room in artificial light. I looked around at the random _Star Trek_ and _Star Whatever_ posters Arty had covering his walls and rolled my eyes as Brittany moved deeper into the room, where Arty could see her more clearly, and began to transform. Moments later, she stood on delicate hooves in the center of Arty's room, awkwardly angled to avoid the huge replica of some kind of _Star Whatever_ spaceship he had dangling from the ceiling.

Arty's eyes were wide as he took in Brittany's form. "Oh, my God. Oh, my _God_!" He sat up higher, his eyes tracing over Brittany's frame slowly. It made me uncomfortable. "She's _beautiful_," he breathed, and something about his tone- okay, I couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"Yeah, she _is_- beautiful and _deadly_, so I suggest you don't do anything to piss my girl off," I warned. Brittany looked at me disapprovingly, but she had the faintest smile in her eyes, so I knew she wasn't really that upset at my possessiveness. Not that it mattered. Aunty Snixxx came out when she felt like it. I really didn't have any control over her, you know?

"What is she? Where did she come from? Oh, that's probably why you came to _me_, right? Because you obviously needed help communicating with her-"

_[I can communicate just fine,]_ Brittany said flatly, and Arty flailed his arms in surprise. It was weird to see, because I expected his legs to move, too, but they just laid limply and uselessly under the blanket.

"Did you guys hear that? She's trying to communicate!"

I rolled my eyes. What an ass.

"Will you get a hold of yourself?" Mercedes chided before I could open my mouth with a thousand insults. Wheels lucked out this time. "Brittany is _not_ the biggest of our problems, here."

"Remember when she asked you to _listen_?" Quinn reminded with a hard-edged voice from the doorway.

Arty nodded frantically, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. "Yes! Tell me."

And so Mercedes did. While she explained about the Yeerks, and Willi-Amschu-Ester, I not-so-subtly made my way over to Brittany and leaned against her, crossing my arms. The medium-length lavender fur on her shoulder- well, on the _deer_ part of her _deer_ shoulder- was soft beneath my fingertips, and I stroked it absently, inwardly rolling my eyes at Arty's comical expressions to Mercedes' story.

"I _knew_ Ceti eels were real," Arty said firmly, more to himself, as he shook his head in amazement. "I can't believe it! Ceti eels- _here_- on Earth!"

"I think Sam found his soulmate," Quinn muttered.

_[What's a Ceti eel?]_ Brittany wondered.

"Uh- they're called _Yeerks_, dude," I said.

Sam popped his golden retriever head up, his paws hooked over the windowsill, and looked at Arty.

_[Don't you mean Centaurian slugs?]_

"Brittany's not a centaur-"

"No, the Ceti eel enters through the _ear_," Arty explained haughtily. I blinked. Was this argument really happening? "The Centaurian slug enters through the _mouth_, which-"

"While this is all _very_ fascinating," Quinn interjected through gritted teeth, saying what I'm sure everyone except for Sam and Arty felt, "the Yeerks are actually _real_."

"Yeah, unlike the _Stargate_ shit you guys are trying to relate them to," I said with a nod. Quinn and I shared a look. It was like _Clash of the Nerds_. I felt myself getting dweebier by the second just being in the room with them.

"Quinn _was_ a Controller," Mercedes said solemnly, as if that was all the proof she needed to present.

"How did you survive?" Arty demanded, shocked. "The Ceti eel-"

"-_Yeerk_-"

"-should have completely destroyed your mind!"

This guy was not getting it. I decided to try a new strategy. "Well, you see Brittany here?" I jerked my thumb at her to emphasize, "She's _actually_ a rare species from the planet, uh-"

_[Vulcan!]_ Sam supplied helpfully, his tail wagging like crazy.

I nodded. "Right. From _Vulcan_. And she did the mind-touch thing on Quinn and released the Yeer- I mean, the _Spaghetti Eel_, from her brain."

Arty gave me a doubtful look. "That's impossible. Only Vulcans can do the mind-touch."

I blinked at him. "I give up." I threw my hands up in the air and turned towards Brittany, petting my hands over her deer-esque back to distract me from going Lima Heights on this moron as Mercedes continued to try and explain about the Andalites and the transforming power. I was beginning to wonder if Arty wasn't also _mentally_ disabled when I accidentally tuned back in to the conversation.

"So you can turn _into_ animals?"

"Yes," Mercedes said flatly, gesturing to Sam, who opened his mouth in a doggy grin, letting his pinkish tongue loll out. "That dog? That's Sam."

_[Sam I am! And I don't like green eggs and-]_

"Shut _up_." I resisted the urge to slam the window shut, dog or not.

Arty's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Sam?"

Mercedes nodded and waved Sam inside. Sam carefully hauled himself over the windowsill and bounded into the room, wagging his tail. Then he began to change.

I didn't even really bother to watch. I assumed that Arty was going to look like everyone else who saw the transforming power in action for the first few times- amazed. He had watched Brittany transform and hadn't said anything, but as Sam became himself and lost his luxurious golden fur as it was replaced by pink skin, Arty was completely mute. I guess it's different watching someone you actually _know_ transform from an animal. After all, Arty didn't know Brittany. And let's be real, I kind of wanted to keep it that way.

After long moments, Arty finally spoke. "So why have you come here to tell me all this?" he asked, his voice hard in a way I'd never heard from him before- not that I ever had even a semblance of a conversation with the kid before, but. It prompted me to turn around.

"We'd like you to join our fight," Sam said quietly, untangling the fanny pack from his shoulder.

"Me?" Arty looked at each of our faces. I gave him the best sarcastic look I could muster- I couldn't have him thinking that _I_ wanted him to join or anything. That would just be crazy. "Why me?" he demanded. "Out of everyone, why did you choose me?"

"It's not a very good reason," I said nonchalantly with a shrug. Mercedes and Sam both shot me dirty looks, but I ignored them. "What? He deserves to know." I looked at Arty, narrowing my eyes. "We chose you because of your disability."

"My disability?"

"Yes," Quinn agreed, but with a much gentler tone than mine.

"You remember about the three days thing?" Mercedes asked softly.

"Yeah, the Yorks have to leave their hosts every three days," Arty confirmed.

"Well, we didn't have time to check people out for three days," I said. "We had to pick someone we knew the Yeerks wouldn't infest. And you're the lucky winner."

It was silent for a moment while we let that sink in. Arty swallowed thickly and looked at each of us. "So the Yeerks wouldn't have bothered to infest me because of my disability," he said harshly. "Which is why you chose me."

"Don't say it like that," Mercedes coaxed. "It's not-"

"It's _exactly_ like that!" Arty said, and I shrugged, because, well, he had a point. It basically was. "You're using me for the same reason the Yeerks _won't_- because I'm handicapped."

"Listen," I said, "you need to make like cement and harden the fuck up. You can sit here crying about how your legs don't work, resulting in being safe from a murdering race of aliens- oh, boo, hoo, like that's something to be upset over- or you can take the power to transform, and fight alongside the rest of us like a normal, capable person."

"You stand the most to gain here, Arty," Sam agreed. "You may not be healed by the transforming process, but being animals _is_ cool."

"You'd be able to walk again- as an animal. Fly as a bird," Mercedes said, and I knew it was wrong of her to dangle that carrot in front of Arty, but we needed help. We needed to win. And we needed to do anything to make that happen- even semi-blackmail.

Arty was silent, with his jaw clenched, for long moments. Deliberating. I felt Brittany's hand creep into mine and I smiled slightly, giving her a reassuring squeeze. A few more tense moments passed, and then, Arty looked up. His eyes were dark and determined behind his glasses as he said, "I'll do it."

* * *

Giving him the power was easy. We all crowded around his bed and crammed a portion of our fingers onto the cube- tradition, you know. It was a little harder getting him a first animal to acquire- unfortunately, DNA had to come directly from the animal, so he couldn't just acquire one of us in another form. He could've acquired Brittany but- _fuck that_, no _way_ was I letting that happen. And none of us were too keen on letting him acquire one of us- that was a little too personal, if you know what I mean.

Luckily, Arty's family owned a small terrier- which, okay, _useless_, because the dog hadn't made a peep when five kids broke into Arty's room. I'm sure the family felt _real_ safe. It did, however, make lots of peeps once it saw all of us standing in Arty's room, after Mercedes had opened Arty's bedroom door.

YARP! YARP! YARPYARPYARPYARPYARPYAR-

FWAPP!

Brittany put an end to that quickly.

"Did you kill Chewbacca?!" Arty demanded, horrified, as Sam picked up the still form of the dog from the floor.

"That's his name?" I asked, and Quinn and I shared another look. _Loser_.

_[No, I simply put him into an unconscious state,]_ Brittany explained, and I giggled because the way she said it was funny.

Sam placed Chewbacca on Arty's lap and Mercedes coached him through the acquiring process. Then, Sam put Chewbacca out of the room, so that we wouldn't have two freaked out dogs if the little shit woke up suddenly while Arty was transformed.

Mercedes talked Arty through the transforming process, and we all watched in fascination as he changed into the terrier. Well, I didn't. Because I didn't actually care. I watched my nails. It was time to repaint them again.

"Now, be careful, because the mind of the dog is going to try and take over-"

I caught Quinn rolling her eyes out of the corner of my vision, and I smirked at her. She must've been remembering her squirrel form-

YARPYARPYARPYARPYARPYARPYARP !

"Arty, shut up!" Mercedes hissed.

YARPYARPYARPYARPYARP-

FWAPP!

I chuckled in slight satisfaction at Brittany's subtle methods of quieting Arty, who had obviously lost control of his form.

Arty wobbled on his little terrier legs. _[What- just- happened,]_ he groaned.

"You wouldn't shut up," I said with a casual shrug.

"Are you in control now?" Sam asked.

_[Yeah, I- that was weird,]_ Arty said, shaking his little dog head. _[I smelled another dog in my room.]_

"That was Chewbacca- the _real_ Chewbacca," Sam explained. I tried not to be surprised at how ridiculous our conversations sounded.

"Or it could've been Sam's golden retriever," Quinn stated with a shrug.

_[Well, whoever that dog is, he'd better not come around again, or I'll-]_

"I'm abouts ta throw a handle at you so you can get a grip," I said, snapping my fingers. "We don't have time for this shit. You're a dog? Great, you're a dog. Now you know it works. Now change back, so we can walk out of here."

Sam and Mercedes glared at me again, but I shrugged, not backing down.

Brittany squeezed my hand tightly. _[Calm down, San.]_

"I _am_ calm," I muttered. "We just got other shit to do tonight besides watch Professor X prance around as Toto."

Arty was currently jumping back and forth on the bed, and, okay, I _tried_ to cut the kid a little bit of slack- not only was he experiencing being a dog for the first time, but he was experiencing _walking_ for the first time in a really long time, too. That had to count for something. I guess I was just being a bitch, right?

_[Okay, I think I'm ready to change back,] _Arty said nervously.

Mercedes raised an eyebrow at Sam. "You got this one? He's probably going to wind up bare as the day he was born."

Sam nodded. "I'll take care of it."

We all obediently turned around as Sam coached Arty through the transformation back to his body, and then, when Sam said it was safe, we all turned back around. Mercedes gasped, Quinn smiled, and I just blinked.

Arty had a blanket tied around his waist to hide his no-no bits- thank _God_- but other than that, he was pretty much naked. Not only that, but his paleness rivaled Kurt's- and that's saying something.

But the incredible thing, the thing that was the most important, was that Arty was standing next to the bed.

On his own legs.

Arty looked amazed and utterly overwhelmed. He had tears streaming down his face, and I couldn't help but smile- I was a bitch, sure, but I wasn't _heartless_- I was genuinely happy for him. His hands were shaking where he clutched the blanket to his hips, and he looked at Sam, who was grinning a big fish-lipped grin at him.

"Welcome to the _Transformers_," Sam said.

* * *

_[Are you sure about this?]_ I growled.

_[It's going to be a lot trickier, but yes,]_ Sam said from below me. He was a golden retriever again.

The rest of us were all in bird form- even Arty- crammed onto a branch in a tree outside of the house of one of Arty's friends from rehab, Blaine. We had asked Wheels- uh, well, I guess we can't call him that anymore? _Fuck_- if he knew anyone else that was disabled, and he had mentioned that he had met some guy who seemed pretty genuine in his rehabilitation center. It was worth a shot, because let's face it- none of us had a list of reliable disabled friends at our fingertips.

We figured it would all go about the same way, only Arty would do the explaining, and then we'd give him the power and all that. There was only one problem:

Blaine was blind.

So he couldn't exactly _watch_ us transform. We had to think of something else, some other way to show him that aliens were real and that we weren't _just_ crazy, we were also telling the truth.

_[I'm not sure how we are going to do this,]_ Mercedes admitted.

_[Just let me do the talking,] _Arty said. Oh, that sounded real safe.

_[Yeah, we'll figure it out as we go,]_ I said sarcastically.

_[By the seat of our pants,]_ Brittany chimed in.

Quinn laughed. _[It's been working for us so far.]_

_[Which always means it's closer to fucking up,]_ I pointed out helpfully.

_[Are you guys always like this?]_ Arty asked, incredulous_. [So down on yourselves?]_

_[We probably should've told you this before, Barty- but we lose a lot.]_

_[My name's Arty.]_

_[And I care… because-?]_

_[Santana, be nice,]_ Brittany scolded_. [Barty is now a part of the team.]_

I couldn't stop laughing.

* * *

"Blaine."

Sheets rustled. The kid sat up in bed. "Who's there?"

"It's me- Arty."

Confusion crossed Blaine's face as he turned his head so that his ear was facing the sound of Arty's voice, his eyes neutral and hazy. "_Arty_? What time is it? Did I oversleep?"

Arty walked- yes, walked- closer to the bed, keeping his voice low. "No, no- I just- had something important to tell you."

Blaine crinkled his eyebrows, looking confused. "And you had to do it _now_? It feels- early."

"It is," Arty confirmed.

"This is turning out to be really creepy," I whispered, because seriously? Who the hell is that calm when someone, even someone you know, breaks into your house that early?

"Who's that?" Blaine demanded, turning his ear in my direction.

Oh. Oops. I forgot that like, blind people have sharpened hearing. You know, to make up for them being blind or whatever.

"My- uh- _friend_," Arty said.

"Oh." Blaine relaxed slightly. "Did she push you here?"

"Push him?" Oh, right. The chair. "Yes. I wheeled him right over," I said brightly.

"All the way from your house? That's like, two towns over," Blaine said, his face a mask of confusion once more. This conversation was taking way too long. And wasn't going anywhere. When Arty looked at me, I gave him a sharp glare.

Oh, for the love of-

"Okay, Blaine, I have something to confess," Arty said, getting the hint.

Blaine looked panicked. "You're not in love with me are you?"

I laughed, because- come on, twice in one night? How does that even happen? I couldn't miss the opportunity again. "Oh, yeah- he's in _love_ with you," I crooned with a smirk. Arty shot me a glare that could melt paint, but I definitely didn't have any paint on me. "You're all he can _think_ about, and he couldn't sleep until he told you."

Blaine frowned, looking really troubled and uncomfortable. "Arty, that's really sweet of you, but-"

"Blaine, _no_-"

_[Really, Santana? You couldn't handle this?]_ Kurt demanded as he flew into the room suddenly and landed on the carpeted floor. Quinn was flying surveillance this time, and since Arty had informed us pre-break-in that Blaine went to Dalton Academy- just like Sebastian- Sam thought it was a great idea to send _Team Gay Plus Arty_ in to recruit Blaine. Because that had gone _so well_ the last time _Team Gay_ had tried to recruit someone from Dalton, and I seriously doubted that the _Plus Arty_ part was going to be a huge help.

Sometimes I wonder how Sam became the leader.

Kurt began to transform, and Arty was still trying to explain to Blaine that he wasn't in love with him. I shrugged, sending Kurt a smug grin. "I just couldn't help myself. It was too easy, and I never get to have any fun."

After long moments and clarifications, we finally managed to get Blaine to believe that Arty wasn't in love with him- well, long enough for us to explain about the Yeerks. Thankfully, Blaine wasn't some kind of sci-fi junkie, so we didn't have to argue the finer points of some Yeerk existentialism with him. Blaine still looked mostly doubtful, though.

When we finished the tale, and the accompanying details we had forgotten in the tale, Blaine's frown increased. "I'm blind, but I'm not stupid," he said softly. "Arty, I thought you were my friend."

"Blaine, I _am_- that's why I chose you to join us," Arty explained desperately.

"Well, _that_, and because he's in love with you," I snickered under my breath. Kurt glared at me.

"Look, Blaine," Kurt said. "I know it's hard to believe. But you're going to have to trust us."

"You're going to have to _show_ him," I said.

"How? He's blind," Kurt hissed angrily, like I had said something insulting.

But I had an idea. "Blaine- give me your hand," I instructed.

"Why?" Blaine asked warily, bringing his hand instinctively to his chest. "What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to show you something cool." Hesitantly, he stuck his hand out, and I grabbed it in mine- wow, his hands were like, baby soft- and used my other hand to tug Kurt over. I placed Blaine's hand on Kurt's face. "Hold that."

Kurt was not amused, and spoke from beneath Blaine's fingers. "What the _fuck_, Santana-"

"Shut it, Princess," I snapped. I looked at Blaine. "Blaine, I want you to focus very hard on what you're feeling under your hand." Uh-_wanky_.

"It's a face," Blaine said flatly.

"Right- keep focusing," I said. I looked at Kurt. "Change."

Kurt suddenly got it. Slowly, he began to transform into a hawk. His lips hardened and melted into a beak. Blaine began to pull his hand away but I put mine over his and pressed it back to Kurt's face. "_Don't_. Focus on what's happening."

Blaine's face went from horror, to awe, to amazement as Kurt slowly and deliberately transformed to hawk, held the form for a few moments, and then transformed back to human. When he finished, Blaine had a tear in his eye. "I- I can't believe it," Blaine said, his voice hoarse with emotion. "You just- _changed_- into a bird."

"Precisely," I said. "And you can do it, too. But you have to believe what we're telling you."

"I- I don't know if I can," Blaine admitted.

"I know it's hard," Arty said. "But I've _done_ it. I changed into my dog. And- and I flew here, as a bird. _Flew_ here!" Arty went from excited to serious in a moment as he continued, "And I can walk again."

"What?" Blaine demanded, suddenly sitting up straighter. His eyebrows raised- you couldn't really miss that, they were like large black caterpillars crawling across his face- in surprise, but his eyes were dull and unblinking. It was weird. "You mean, you got crutches?"

"No, I mean, the transforming healed me. Healed my legs. I can walk again- on _my_ legs. I'm standing on them right now."

Blaine took a deep breath. "So you believed these guys? What they said about aliens?"

Arty nodded, even though Blaine couldn't see it. "Yes. I did. I do. I- I saw an alien. I know you can't _yet_, but- you've got to trust me. It's all real."

Blaine sighed. "Well then, if that's true, then I really don't have a choice, do I?"

"There's always a choice," Kurt said gently. "The difference is doing what's right, or doing what's selfish."

Blaine nodded, and I gave Kurt a look that said _dafuq did I just hear?_ Kurt was getting all noble and shit all of a sudden? I mean, okay, it wasn't _that_ sudden. He'd always kind of been into this fighting evil aliens shit. I guess I just never really connected it to his sense of morals, though.

"If you don't mind my asking," Kurt started softly, "how were you blinded?"

Blaine considered for a moment, torn as to whether he wanted to share something that was obviously hard for him to talk about. Arty seemed to notice and cut in, "it will heal. It's recent, and it's not genetic."

I nodded. "So it's reparable. Meaning, the transforming power should heal your sight, just like it healed Arty's legs."

Blaine swallowed. "I was going to say yes before," he said thickly. "But now- now I _have_ to say yes."

I smiled grimly, then moved to the window. I waved my hand out, signaling two things to the others- first, that it was safe to come in, and second, that Kurt and I had pretty much decided that Blaine would fit in with our team. I hoped we weren't wrong, but my gut was doing okay, and it was usually pretty good at picking up creeps. Mercedes, Quinn, and Brittany flew in, but we were on the second floor, so someone had to go downstairs to let Sam in the house. While I waited for Arty to come back upstairs with Sam, I asked, "Do you have an animal or something you can acquire?"

Blaine nodded. "Yes- my canary, Pavarotti."

I looked up at the ceiling. Why did we have to add _lame_ people to the group (no pun intended?) We had really lucked out with Quinn, I guess.

When Sam walked in with the cube, we all shuffled around the bed and Kurt placed Blaine's hand on one side of the blue box. I raised an eyebrow at how much Kurt had definitely warmed up to Blaine in such a short amount of time.

"I know we haven't even met, but I'm Sam, and welcome to the _Transformers_, dude," Sam said with a genuine smile.

Kurt offered Pavarotti to Blaine, and once Blaine was done acquiring the bird, he handed it to Arty, who begrudgingly walked the bird back to its cage in the other room. Kurt softly coached Blaine through the transformation process, and minutes later, Blaine was a small canary, fluttering around the room in a panic, since unlike the real Pavarotti, his wings weren't clipped.

"Get the window!" Quinn hissed, and Sam moved to slam it shut before Blaine could escape the room.

"Blaine, get a hold of yourself!" Arty said in a hushed tone.

"Like you're one to talk," I said with a roll of my eyes. Arty glared at me and I shrugged.

Blaine the canary flapped around the room a few more times. Then, as if he'd been shot, he just dropped out of the air and onto the bed.

"Uh- are you all right?" Kurt asked, leaning over him.

Blaine blinked his little bird eyes and shook his head. _[Woah. That was incredible. It's like the canary was in my brain, too- telling me to fly away.]_

"Yeah, the animals instincts are in there with you," Kurt explained. "Sorry, I should've warned you."

"Probably," I agreed with another shrug. Were we done?

"Now for the good part," Sam said with a smile, observing Blaine as he spent time just looking at each of us. "Change back."

"We'll turn around," Mercedes muttered.

"No need- he's wearing compression shorts," Sam said. "They should stay on him through the process."

I nodded. "Thank God, because like, literally the last thing I need is to see any more boy salami."

Quinn smirked at me, Mercedes shook her head, and Sam just looked at me in disbelief as Kurt coached Blaine through the process of returning back to human. Once he was fully transformed and he stood, mostly naked except for his compression shorts, we all waited to see if his blindness was healed. And, judging by the tears and the lack of haze in his eyes, it looked like it was.

Blaine cried, wiping furiously at his eyes as he just looked and looked at us with a huge, watery grin on his face. "I can _see_," he sniffed. "I can see again."

I smiled sadly at him. I hoped he didn't live to regret being able to see.

* * *

"You still have to live as you were," Quinn said firmly. "You can't risk the Yeerks suddenly taking an interest to you." We were still gathered in Blaine's room. Brittany was in her normal form, and Blaine kept staring at her. It didn't make me nearly as uncomfortable as when Arty did it, though, so I was okay. But I definitely didn't want to leave her side, regardless.

"Think of it as an undercover operation," Sam said brightly. "Arty, you can only walk when you're around _us_, or when you're alone."

"Bummer," Arty grumbled. "What good is being able to walk if I still have to pretend to be in a chair?"

"You can't let yourself become a target," Mercedes reiterated gently.

"Yeah, if they get you, kiss your freedom good-bye," I said. "We don't exactly have the best record when it comes to freeing people who've been captured."

Arty and Blaine's eyes widened in shock. "You've had members _captured_?" Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded. "Our friend Puck was captured. He's now host to the Yeerk who's, as far as we know, in charge of the invasion on Earth- Visser Seven."

"That sucks," Arty said.

"Pretty much," I agreed.

"We'll contact you tomorrow night," Sam said. "We'll take you to go get some avatars, and then it'll be time for your first mission."

"Avatars?" Arty asked with a curious eyebrow. "You mean, like-"

"A spirit animal," Mercedes said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. "Except less gay."

"It's more like an animal you can fight with, that you feel comfortable with. Sam just takes it to a more personal level," Kurt said.

"It's a little personal," Quinn defended. "I feel pretty close to my lion."

"And I have a special fondness for my bear," Mercedes agreed. "We've been through a lot together."

Blaine nodded, his eyes full of wonderment. "Where do you guys go to acquire those animals?"

Kurt shrugged. "The zoo."

"Right. We'll take you guys tomorrow night. So start thinking about what you'd like to acquire," Sam said.

It was silent for a moment, and then Blaine spoke. "I can't believe this," he said softly. "Yesterday, I was blind. And today, not only can I see again, but I've discovered aliens exist, and I can turn into animals." He chuckled.

"It does seem pretty crazy," Arty agreed.

"Welcome to your new life," Mercedes grinned.

I looked around at everyone, feeling slightly nostalgic. A lot of our team was the same. We were the same kids that walked through that construction site all those many months ago. And yet- we were entirely different. Each of us had changed in ways we could've never anticipated. And Puck was gone. But we had gained Brittany. We had gained Quinn. And now, we had Arty and Blaine.

Someday we would get Puck back, I knew we would. But in the meantime, I hoped the small addition we had made to the team would be enough to turn the tide slightly in our favor. Because if there was one thing I was completely over, it was losing.

It was time to win for a change.

* * *

**Okay. So. We've added a couple kids to the group. For those of you interested, that idea was lifted from _Animorphs_ #50. The kids wanted to add members, so they went to a children's hospital and added a crapload of disabled kids. Some of them were healed and some of them weren't. I limited my additions to just two, since _Glee_ doesn't really have an overabundance of likeable disabled kids to choose from.**

**Review if you feel inclined and let me know what you thought of the new additions. Or, you know, don't- it's up to you. :)**

**See you on Monday for the second half, in which the kids venture out to strike a blow to the Yeerks... like in every chapter. LOL.**


	24. Alpha

**...nothing to say, except I'M SORRY OKAY.**

**My work schedule switched up on me, so I apologize for the late updates. I may not be able to update on Mondays anymore because of the change in schedule, but I promise I will update once every week! So no worries, I haven't and won't abandon this story. There's about 7 chapters left to go, so I hope you will all hang in there for the end with me. :)**

**Thanks to everyone for reading, reviewing, favoriting, lurking, and whatever else-ing the last chapter. You guys are the greatest and I appreciate you all. Thanks so much for your patience, everyone. :')**

* * *

It was mid-morning by the time we made it back to the Motta Mansion. I was tired- we all were- so we agreed to go to bed, sleep on our decisions (even though it was a little late for second thoughts) and then discuss them when we woke up. Sounded like a great idea to me, except for the "discuss them when we woke up" part. I could sleep for the rest of the day and not give any fucks what-so-ever about any irreversible decisions.

"You don't have to do that; I know how tired you are," I told Brittany as she climbed into bed behind me to hold me.

"Then don't argue, so I can go to sleep," she mumbled, nuzzling her face into my hair and sliding her arms around me. She pulled me in tight to her body and I felt safe and snuggly. I closed my eyes and sighed, wrapping my arms around hers that were around me.

"You're too perfect, you know that?"

"Is there such a thing?"

I laughed softly, stifling a yawn. "If there is, you're it."

She chuckled behind me, and I could hear the sleepiness in it. It was silent for a moment while I listened to her deep, steady breathing.

"I wish this war was over," I whispered suddenly, tightening my hold on her arms. Brittany didn't respond; I guess she'd fallen asleep. I swallowed at the truth in my confession. I _did_ wish the war was over- I wished Brittany didn't have to change back to her true form every two hours. I wished she could just hold me like this forever, and that we didn't have to get up in a few hours to discuss an attempt at another possibly fatal mission. I wished I didn't have to spend my time living in fear that one of us could die at any given moment. I wished that Brittany and I could worry about normal problems, like what color to paint our nails, or which party we were gonna attend. I closed my eyes tightly, letting a deep, slow breath out, and felt Brittany's arms squeeze me in response.

"It could be," Brittany whispered after a long silence, sounding a lot more awake than she had before.

I bit my lip, surprised that she answered, but even more surprised at what her answer was. "What do you mean?"

Her warm, moist lips pressed into the back of my neck, and I shivered in her arms. "We could run away," she breathed, planting another kiss lower on my neck. "We could leave."

"Where would we go?" I asked, my voice barely audible. My heart was pounding, threatening to break my ribs, both from Brittany's kisses and the weight of her words.

Brittany's lips moved to just below my ear, making me release a low hum in pleasure. Her next words sent a shiver down my spine. "Anywhere. Sweden."

Sweden. With my parents. I hadn't even thought of that. If they were safe there, then _I_ was safe there, right? But for how long? How long until the Yeerks expanded that far, if they weren't there already?

As if sensing my question, Brittany said, "They won't get that far. Sam and the others would stop them."

And that's when I knew. I _knew_ neither of us could ever run away from the war. Brittany knew, too- she was just offering me a way out. But she wouldn't leave unless I did. She was far too noble for that.

And me? Was I noble enough to stay and fight a war, with the possibility that I could die, that I could lose everything, and that didn't exactly benefit me in any immediate way, when I had an out? I mean, my parents were safe. Brittany would be by my side. The only thing I was preventing was the eventual takeover of the human race, but, if I was being selfish, the people I cared about most were safe.

But that wasn't true either, was it?

I cared about Sam. I cared about Quinn. I cared about Mercedes. I even cared about Kurt.

I cared about Puck.

I couldn't turn my back on them- on _him_- could I? They were all fighting to save someone, something they cared about- and that meant I cared about their somethings, too. I couldn't just leave. As nice as it would be to run, to escape for however long, I couldn't abandon my friends. None of us enjoyed the war. None of us wanted to fight. If anyone was entitled to leave, it was Brittany, but she would never do that unless I asked her to.

I turned in Brittany's arms until I could kiss her, and I did. It was a soft, bittersweet kiss, and when I pulled back, she offered me a sad smile, and I returned it. She already knew my decision. She knew me better than I knew myself. But she didn't say anything as I tucked my head under her chin, buried my face into her neck and drifted off to fitful sleep.

* * *

Kurt broke the silence, as usual. "Can we just address the giant elephant in the room?"

"Your sexuality?" I retorted.

"Girl, please, that ain't no elephant," Mercedes laughed.

I grinned and looked at Kurt. "True. Time to face the facts- we all pretty much know you were making sex eyes at Blaine the entire time."

Kurt rolled his eyes, but he had a blush on his cheeks. "Oh, ha, ha, you guys are hysterical, and also that has absolutely _nothing_ to do with what I was going to say."

"Well, _I'd_ like to say that I'm happy with our new members," Sam said with a grin. "I think they are going to make strong additions to our team."

"I agree," Quinn said. "I was worried at first about adding more people, but they both seem pretty legit."

"Well, Arty is my friend," Mercedes started with a shrug. "So I knew he was gonna be cool. As for Blaine- I trust Arty's judgment."

"The kid needs to see an eyebrow specialist," I stated flatly. "But other than that, I guess he's okay. Kurt seems to like him."

"Okay, seriously, stop," Kurt muttered. "I spent all of five minutes with him."

"But they were the best five minutes of your life," I swooned, placing a hand on my heart and the other on my forehead.

"Be careful though, Kurt- you may have to fight Arty for him," Quinn laughed, prompting a chuckle from everyone in the room.

Kurt was red as a tomato. "I hate all of you."

"Really, though, I think we've got two strong teammates," Mercedes said sagely.

"True- but I thought we were talking about the new kids," I joked. Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Santana, you are such a-"

"_Hello_, all my adoring fans," Sugar greeted as she entered the room dramatically, cutting Quinn off and effectively earning annoyed looks from all of us. She had the sugar glider, Brhaad 626, draped over her shoulder as she flounced into the middle of our meeting. "I have some pretty important news."

"Sugar- what _you_ think is important and what's _actually_ important are like two different things," I complained.

"Ha ha, aren't you so funny- _not_." Sugar rolled her eyes at me and I blinked. Did she _actually_ just say that? "For your information, this is important on _your_ level, not just mine." She paused, struck a dramatic pose, and then said, "Remember that famous person the Yeerks were going to infest? The one having a concert? Well, it just so happens-"

"Oh, no," Mercedes groaned, holding up her hand in protest. "No more."

"Yeah, we're kind of already in the middle of something important," Kurt agreed with a grimace.

Sam smiled apologetically. "We really don't have any time at the moment to take on another mission, Sugar."

"Though we appreciate the information," Quinn added with only slight sarcasm in her voice. I don't know how the girl keeps it in check. My sarcasm is flying off the charts.

"What do you mean, _you're in the middle of something_?" Sugar snapped. "_What _are you in the middle of?"

"Well _for your information_, we're going tomorrow morning to take down the Kandrona," I said casually with a shrug.

"Wait- you're _still_ doing that?" Sugar asked disdainfully, looking disgusted. She scanned each of our faces as if waiting for one of us to crack and say _just kidding_.

"Were we not supposed to?" Sam asked with a confused expression on his face. "I thought-"

"_I_ thought you were _done_ with that. That was like, days ago."

"Uh. Well we needed some time to plan, and we had to add some teammates," Mercedes started slowly.

"You people sure dick around a lot," Sugar said with a shrug, jostling her pet sugar glider, who carefully moved around to her other shoulder. "No _wonder_ you're _losing_." She paused. "Sorry, Asperger's."

"This bitch," I muttered.

"First of all, we're _not_ losing," Quinn said. "And second of all, dicking around isn't the same as planning carefully to ensure a favorable outcome."

Sugar waved her hand, as if shooing us away. "Right. Keep tellin' yourselves that. And let me know when you're ready for my information- hopefully it won't be next week." She turned and left the room, leaving us all sitting uncomfortably where we were.

It was silent a moment, and then Sam said, "We don't _really_ dick around that much."

"No way," Kurt agreed quickly.

"Not at all," Mercedes said with a firm nod.

"Nope."

"Nah-uh."

_[Of course not.]_

It was silent for another moment. Sam cleared his throat. "Okay, well, uh, we should probably contact Blaine and Arty and get them set up with some avatars."

"Right," Quinn stated.

Kurt nodded. "That is _exactly_ what we should do."

"Well I'm glad we cleared that up," I said, rolling my eyes.

* * *

"Just reach out and touch it," Kurt whispered.

"Yeah, that will work just fine- until it bites my hand off," Arty hissed.

_[That's what _I'm_ here for,]_ I reminded. _[Also- wanky.]_ I twitched my ear and waited patiently as Arty eased slowly towards a pack of wolves. It was late, just after closing time at the zoo, and we were all crammed carefully in the pen that contained the wolves. We had decided that, since we had no clue where the Kandrona was located, and the woods grew thicker the higher up on the mountain we went, we needed forms that could travel on the ground and still track down where the Yeerks were. Wolves were perfect and inconspicuous, and didn't tire easily- unlike my cheetah, which wasn't good for long distances. Arty was first up to acquire the form, and I was a cheetah just in case some shit went down and the wolves decided to attack us. So far, though, they had just been eying us lazily.

But Arty was being a wuss. He moved an inch at a time towards the Eastern wolf (as the bronze plaque outside of the pen called it, anyways) which was a lot smaller than the gray wolf Puck had acquired from a different pen that first fateful trip to the zoo all those months ago- and Puck had walked right up to that thing. I rolled my cheetah eyes as Arty took another small step and grumbled, "Oh, of _course_- I feel real safe."

My tail twitched in amusement. It was entertaining watching Arty creep towards the wolf like it was a bear or something. Oh, I couldn't wait to see how this pansy reacted to one of Visser Seven's alien beasties. The thought made me literally grin. _[Aw, come on, it's not like you can't just get your arm back-]_

"It will still hurt to lose it!" Arty snapped, but quietly- he didn't want to startle the widdle baby woofs.

_[Now you just sound like a vagina.]_

"Maybe we shouldn't have let Santana be the only one on standby if something happens," Sam said suddenly. He's just figuring that out _now_? Pssh!

I stood up gracefully. _[What's _that_ supposed to mean? My cheetah can totally take those puny wolves!]_

"Yeah, she let a Hork-Bajir slice my foot off," Kurt said accusingly, agreeing with Sam and ignoring my boast.

_[Are you kidding me? That was _one time_!]_

"Tell that to my foot."

_[Don't think I _won't_!]_ I challenged. I rolled my eyes._ [I can't believe you even _brought_ that _up_-]_

"Can we focus? I'm in this, too," Mercedes said with a serious tone, giving me a look.

"And me," Quinn agreed with her trademark smirk. "Save the whining for after we've acquired our forms."

"Okay then_, I'll_ go acquire that wolf over _there_- then go gorilla to help Santana keep watch," Sam told us, and before we could respond, he began moving swiftly to another wolf that was sprawled out in the dirt. It didn't even lift its head as Sam approached, but I stood at the ready just in case. Once Sam laid his hand on the grayish-brown fur, the wolf's breathing slowed, and one by one, Mercedes, Quinn, Blaine and Kurt all touched it and acquired it, keeping the wolf in a trance.

Arty moved another inch towards his own wolf. He was within touching distance, and I watched impatiently from several feet away as he stretched out his hand. The wolf lifted its upper lip in a small snarl, and Arty hesitated.

_[Hey, were your balls paralyzed, too? Because I'm kind of wondering if the transforming healed them or not, it doesn't seem like-]_

"Shut _up_!" Arty growled, then reached forward blindly and snatched at the wolf's fur. He slid his eyes closed and concentrated, and I began the transformation back to human. Once Arty broke contact, I slid my hand onto the wolf's back and gently fingered its coarse fur. I closed my eyes and pictured the wolf's teeth, its bushy tail, its huge paws and lithe muscle. When I opened my eyes, Arty was glaring at me. I grinned at him.

_[Good?]_ Sam asked, lumbering over once I'd pulled my hand away. He was a big, black gorilla in the darkness.

I nodded, moving away from the wolf and spying Brittany in the distance. She had moved to acquire a different wolf in the pen, obviously not needing our help to do so. I smiled at her and then focused on the kite DNA inside me to make the long trip back to the Sugar Shack.

We were all set with our new forms. Now we just needed to rest up for the big mission, because we were leaving first thing in the morning.

* * *

"Okay, guys, remember- we can't rush this mission," Sam said for like the bazilionth time since we'd left that morning. Arty and Blaine had met us at the car garage by the old abandoned shopping center, and together we'd made the trip out to the woods. It was chilly, with a strong breeze, and I was glad Brittany had taught me to transform a jacket and sneakers, because being barefoot with only spandex was not something I wanted to rock during the winter. (I did laugh at Arty and Blaine and Quinn, though.)

We were all standing near Brittany's scoop, preparing to go wolf, when Sam decided to have his big _Braveheart_ moment. "If we do this- if we succeed- it'll be a major blow to the Yeerks."

"You know, we always think that, and then nothing happens," I pointed out thoughtfully.

"Maybe this time will be the one time something does," Kurt said optimistically. He glanced at Blaine, who gave him a shy smile. I threw up in my mouth a little.

"Luck is on our side today," Sam said with a nod and a wide grouper smile.

"Please don't say that," I pleaded. "Shit always goes wrong when we say shit like that."

Quinn rolled her eyes, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She hopped from foot to foot, shivering. "Let's just do this."

Mercedes smiled sadly. "I wish Puck was here," she said softly, a wistful expression on her face.

"He still _might_ be. We haven't actually gotten to the place yet," I pointed out lightly with a shrug, but my heart clenched painfully at her words- so I wasn't the only one who'd been reminded of Puck because of wolves. Quinn hadn't known Puck's avatar was a wolf, but at the mention of his name, her face became a little crestfallen.

Mercedes gave me another look. "You _know_ what I meant."

I nodded, but before I could speak, Brittany said, _[Let's do this for him.]_ I looked at her and smiled, and she smiled back- then she began to change.

One by one we all started our transformations to wolf. Blaine and Arty were slower than the rest of us, and of course, Brittany was done before I could even close my eyes, but within moments we were all in various stages of our transformations. The first thing that changed was my teeth. There was the usual brief itching sensation in my mouth, accompanied by some slight grinding as my teeth shifted and elongated, and my nose stretched out from my face- I'm sure I looked pretty horrifying- then the grayish-brown fur swept over me in a wave, sprouting from my skin. My ears wiggled up to the top of my head; a long, bushy tail sprouted from the end of my spine, and the skin on my palms and the bottom of my feet toughened into coarse, black pads.

When I was fully wolf and standing on all fours, I waited a moment for the wolf instincts to kick in, but they seemed pretty docile. I instantly relaxed and looked around. Everyone had finished changing except for Arty and Blaine. My eyesight was decent- colors were different, but still recognizable. The hearing was amazing, as good as my cheetah form, maybe better. But what got me were the SMELLS! I could smell everything- every animal and what they'd been doing, where they had gone, what it all meant, it was insane. I had never gotten so much information from just a sniff before. I wagged my tail slightly and inhaled deeply through my nose, sifting through the myriad of incredible scents.

Woah. Hold the fuck up. What's _that_? I sniffed again, my hackles raising immediately, my ears pointing up. A low, threatening growl began to rumble up from my chest. Was that-

_[Uh oh,]_ Mercedes said. Whatever, unimportant. That fucking smell- I _knew_ that smell. Well, the wolf part of me knew that smell. And it didn't like it. At all.

INTRUDER!

I heard a growl from behind me and turned quickly to face my opponent.

_[Santana? San-taaaan-aaaa,]_ Quinn sang in my head, but I didn't pay any attention to her as I sized up the wolf in front of me. I had more important things to focus on.

_[Arty, stop! Get it together, man!] _

_[Did they acquire the same wolf?]_ Brittany asked. She sounded far away to me. The wolf didn't care, didn't register her voice as important- there was an INTRUDER! He was trying to move in on MY pack! On MY territory! No _way_ was I going to let that happen! I was alpha- ALPHA!

_[Yeah, but why should that matter?]_ Sam said.

The intruder wolf growled at me, baring his fangs. I growled back, baring mine. Who did this punk think he was? I'll tear him apart-

_[Well, both of the wolves are _male_.]_

I'll rip him to _shreds_-

_[Oh, shit. That means they're fighting for alpha of the pack,]_ Quinn said.

_[_What_? How did _I_ get a _female_ wolf?]_ Sam demanded, outraged.

INTRUDER!

I circled to the left of the intruder wolf. He would _not_ take the Alpha title from me. This was MY pack, MINE. This was MY territory. He'd have to fight me for all of it, and I would _take his throat_-

_[_Not_ the biggest problem right now,]_ Mercedes muttered.

_[Yeah, I think they're about to- _shit_!]_ Kurt exclaimed as the intruder wolf lunged forward, for my throat.

I jumped to the side, snarling, and snapped at his front leg. He jumped, and my teeth closed around air. He went for my throat again but I twisted back, then pushed with my powerful hind legs and pounced forward. This time, my teeth closed on fur-

_[Santana, stop! That's Arty you're fighting!]_

YIP!

_[Hah!]_ I gloated as the intruder wolf struggled free of my strong jaws. That was okay, he wouldn't escape for long. _[You won't win! I'll kill you, do you hear me? I'll kill you!]_

_[Arty! Stop it, man!]_

The intruder wolf lunged and I reared up, lashing out with my front paws. We clawed at each other, evenly matched in strength and size, but my fighting experience prevailed and I managed to knock him back. He landed on his side, throat open and vulnerable. This was it!

_[I am Alpha! ALPHA, you understand?!]_ I roared as I moved to tear out the intruder wolf's throat. I snarled and lunged, but another wolf, a female from my pack, stepped into my path, blocking the intruder wolf's prone body from view.

_[Enough now, San,]_ Brittany said gently, her golden wolf eyes penetrating into mine. I swear they shifted from gold to blue in my mind, and I felt the wolf letting go. _[Come back.]_

It was like having a bucket of icy, cold water dumped on me as I came back to my senses. _[What?]_ I looked around. Five tense wolves stood in a semi-circle, pawing the ground in anxiety. _[What happened?]_

_[Oh, nothing, just you trying to tear Arty's throat out,]_ Quinn said. _[No biggie.]_

I blinked as Brittany shifted closer to me and nudged me away towards the others. I looked over my shoulder as Arty climbed shakily to his feet.

_[You went into _notallssith_,]_ Brittany said, her wet nose pushing into my snout affectionately. _[You were unable to control your form.] _

I shook my head slowly. _[Woah. I did _not_ expect that. That was intense,]_ I admitted.

_[We should've been more careful,]_ Mercedes stated, like I didn't already fucking know that. _[Both you and Arty acquired males. We should've all acquired females so there'd be no dominancy issues.]_

_ [Or just _one_ of us,]_ Sam sulked.

_[We didn't think about it,]_ Blaine said. _[Besides, that was pretty amazing. Nicely done, Santana.]_

My ears perked up. Even though I had definitely gone into what Brittany called _notallssith_, I had also pretty much kicked Arty's ass. That was kind of an ego boost. I'm not gonna lie, I strutted a little. But it also made me feel a little guilty. I had lost partial control of my avatars in the past, but not to the extent that I had with the wolf just then. I was ready to rip Arty's throat out and not think twice about it, and I hated to admit that even the _real_ me had a small, tiny part that wanted that, too.

_[Well, now that we're done wasting time, here's a crazy idea- let's do what we came here to do,]_ Kurt said. _[The clock is ticking- two hours, tick tock.]_

_ [Right, and I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in being stuck as a female wolf,]_ Sam grumped.

_[Yeah,]_ I said, withholding my comment about Sam already being trapped as a bitch in his own form. I looked around, scanning the trees. _[Let's head up the mountain. Spread out and keep your noses open for any signs of the Yeerks.]_

_ [Just because you won Alpha doesn't mean you have to _act_ like one,]_ Sam pouted.

I grinned wolfishly, letting my tongue slip out of the side of my mouth, and looked at Sam. _[Are _you_ going to challenge me, Sammy?]_ I teased.

Sam rolled his wolfy eyes. _[Let's just go.]_

I led the way through the trees, with Arty bringing up the rear, his tail tucked between his legs and his head lowered in submission. The Alpha wolf inside me was pleased. As long as the wolf instincts weren't fighting me to drive Arty out, I was fine.

We moved up the mountain at a steady, loping pace, covering a lot of ground quickly. A thick blanket of dead leaves and brush covered the ground, but it didn't slow us down- the wolves tread over it easily, and I was beginning to think we'd actually made a pretty awesome choice in avatar for this mission. We scanned the trees, searching for any kind of structures, paths, tread marks, or familiar scents. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until Quinn, who was all the way to the right of me several yards away, stopped suddenly.

_[I think- I smell something,]_ she said. She raised her nose high into the air, trying to pick up whatever it was as we all moved into her section of woods.

As I got closer to her, I noticed the scent, too. It smelled vaguely familiar, and different than how it normally smelled. But it was definitely a foreign smell to the wolf- foreign and _strange_.

_[Hork-Bajir,]_ Brittany said, and I nodded. It made sense- normally I was smelling it through the nose of a cheetah or a bull, but the wolf had a much more powerful sense of smell. Comparing a cheetah's sense of smell to a wolf's was kind of like smelling something while having a cold, and then when the cold went away, _really_ smelling it.

_[Let's follow the trail,]_ Sam said quickly, obviously trying to regain his leader status.

I just rolled my eyes. _[Lead the way, Trouty.]_

Sam took off, and we all followed. The wolf part of me was not happy, but I pushed him down and chased after Sam as we curved around the mountain. After about a hundred yards or so, we came across a dirt path that wound through the trees and in the distance, we saw a rusty, metal shed that looked like an old mill that seriously must've been there since the Prohibition Era. The tall grass and plants around it were thick and overgrown, with just the dirt path cutting through them.

_[I bet that's where moonshiners made illegal alcohol decades ago,]_ Brittany told me, always reading my mind.

_[I bet you're right,]_ I agreed as we crept up closer to the metal structure. I perused the area around the mill- three four-wheelers were parked in a small, dirt clearing nearby, and I shook my head in amusement at how normal they looked, even in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes the Yeerks were just weird. I mean, shouldn't they be riding hovercrafts or something? Okay, I guess that's not low-profile enough for a secret invasion.

_[I smell at least four Hork-Bajir,]_ Quinn said, bringing me back to the present.

_[Act natural,]_ Kurt reminded_. [We're a normal wolf pack walking through the woods.] _

_ [Right,]_ Sam agreed. _[Don't do anything suspicious. Don't draw attention to yourself.]_

We slinked closer through the dry, dead underbrush, smelling various things and avoiding eye contact with the four Hork-Bajir posted around the perimeter of the building. One by one we managed to move past them silently.

_[Keep going,]_ Sam urged. _[When we get out of sight, we'll change to avatars and come back.]_

"Watch this," one of the Hork-Bajir said, and I suddenly had a very bad feeling.

TSEEEW!

YIPE!

_[Aaaggh!]_ Arty cried.

_[Arty!]_ Blaine yelled.

I turned, snarling, towards the building. One of the Hork-Bajir was holding a Dracon beam leveled at Arty. Arty had a big, smoking black hole in his rear flank. The kid just could not catch a break, I guess.

_[Get out of here!]_ Sam ordered.

_[Oh, fuck that!]_ Quinn snarled, already lunging full speed towards the Hork-Bajir with the Dracon beam.

_[Quinn!]_ I yelled, chasing after her, because come on- I wasn't going to let her take on four Hork-Bajir on her own.

"Aahh!" The Hork-Bajir cried as Quinn ripped into his arm, dragging him to the ground with her vicious mouth.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

I nimbly avoided Dracon fire as the two Hork-Bajir on the other side of the building circled around to help their fallen companion, whom Quinn was currently tearing apart with her powerful jaws. Brittany was right behind me, and together we took down the second Hork-Bajir on our side of the building.

_[Shit!]_ Kurt cried as he plunged into the fray, with Blaine on his heels. They jumped to take down one of the Hork-Bajir who was charging at us from across the path, and Sam and Mercedes intercepted the last one.

Once all four of the Hork-Bajir were down and disabled, we circled up.

_[Well, they know we're here now,]_ Sam said. He looked at Kurt. _[We need eyes up in the air.]_

_[Got it,]_ Kurt said, already beginning his transformation back to a My Little Pony.

_[The rest of you, transform and let's get inside. We don't have much time until reinforcements come.]_

I focused on my own beautiful self, and minutes later I was standing on the dirt path shivering just a little. I hadn't noticed the chill as a wolf because of my thick fur- but even with a jacket, I was shaking a little. I approached the door to the metal structure, halting as I spied the huge, rusty padlock securing the door closed.

"Britt," I said, taking a step back. Brittany clopped forward carefully, and with a quick swipe of her tail, the padlock fell away, sliced cleanly off.

"Thank you," I said, reaching to tug the door open. I offered her a small smile, which she returned, before I turned to the entrance.

_[Got at least three jeeps approaching fast,] _Kurt called down. _[So whatever you're going to do, I'd suggest getting it done quickly.]_

I moved through the doorway and inside, taking in my surroundings. The outside might have looked like a dump, but the inside was spotless, shiny, and new. There were a ton of random machines, all computerized, and I suddenly realized that none of us had any kind of clue what the Kandrona looked like-

_[It's this.]_

Except for Brittany.

I followed Quinn to Brittany's side in front of a steel box the size of a vending machine. There was literally nothing special about it. I would've never guessed it was the Kandrona- but maybe that was the point.

"This is it?"

_[Yes.]_

"How do you know?"

Brittany turned her stalk eye to me, as if to ask _really_? and I felt silly for even asking that question. Of course she would know. Not for the first time, I realized how utterly lost we would be without Brittany, and felt my heart squeeze tightly in adoration for her.

"Okay, so we found it," Mercedes said brightly.

"The question is, what do we do now?" Blaine asked worriedly.

"We destroy it," Sam said simply.

"Yeah, but how?" Blaine asked.

"Simple. Transform to something huge and smash it up," Arty said.

_[That will not work,]_ Brittany said_. [Unfortunately, the steel which encases the machine is incredibly strong, made from an alloy that-]_

"Fascinating, we're all sure," Quinn said gently. "Tell us about it _later_. What do you suggest?"

Brittany shrugged.

"Does anyone have a firebomb?" I asked brightly.

"Well, you got one thing right- fire," Blaine pointed out. "We could set this whole place on fire."

"We can't set a fire out here; it will destroy the whole park!" Mercedes said.

"So what do we do, then?" Arty demanded.

"I can't believe seven kids and an alien can't figure out how to smash up a vending machine," I joked. "Something's just not right here."

_[Jeeps are less than five minutes away,]_ Kurt called.

"Wait- Brittany- ask Kurt if there's any ledges, or drop-offs nearby," Quinn said, grabbing Brittany's arm. Brittany seemed surprised by the gesture, but did as Quinn asked.

_[Yeah, there's a ravine behind the shed,]_ Kurt replied_. [Why?]_

"There's our solution," I said, then wanted to slap myself for not thinking of it right away. We were on a mountain- of course there had to be some kind of ledge nearby. "We push this tin can off the cliff." Okay, wow, it sounded ridiculous even when I said it. But ridiculous or not, it was our best and quickest option.

"It's worth a shot," Sam said. "Mercedes- go big. I'll go gorilla. Between the two of us it should be enough to get this thing moving. The rest of you, prepare to fight."

I focused on the wolf again. I needed speed, power, endurance. Plus I needed to be able to escape if shit got uglier than I was expecting. The wolf was the best form for the environment I was in. If the fight spilled to the outside, which there was a very good chance that it would considering we were going to attempt to shove the Kandrona off a cliff, I had to be able to maneuver around in the underbrush.

Moments later, I was back to wolf form and much better prepared to deal with the wolf's alpha instincts. I padded to the front door, flanked by Quinn, Brittany, Blaine and Arty- all as wolves. Then I sat down on my haunches and waited, staring at the door.

Brittany came and sat next to me, leaning to nudge her shaggy shoulder against mine, and I looked at her. Her eyes glinted with playfulness, and I couldn't help smiling internally at how much I absolutely adored her.

_[Hey,]_ she said softly, her tail swishing across the floor as she wagged it lazily.

_[Hey,]_ I returned. _[Be careful, okay?]_

She smiled a big, wolfish smile, letting her tongue roll out. _[I always am. You be careful, too.]_

_[Always.]_

_ [Jeeps are here,]_ Kurt told us, interrupting my moment with Brittany. I sighed internally- back to the reality of the war. _[Hork-Bajir are climbing out- wow, okay, at least-]_ he paused to count, _[like a dozen or more. No human-Controllers as far as I can tell.]_

I got to my feet, every one of my senses on high alert. A loud noise from behind me had me turning to look at the Kandrona to find the source of it. Mercedes was an elephant, and she had her massive head lowered and pressed against the Kandrona. She was huge, and she barely fit into the building at all. Machinery pressed in all around her.

_[Sweet baby Jesus, this thing is heavy as sin!]_ Mercedes cursed under her breath as she leaned all her weight forward against the Kandrona, struggling to push it across the floor. It didn't budge.

I rolled my eyes at Mercedes' lame attempt at cursing, and watched as Sam pressed his giant black hands against the side of the Kandrona and shoved as well. A faint scraping noise echoed through the building, making me cringe and whine automatically in response. The pitch was too high, and it made me highly uncomfortable. Blaine paced nervously beside me, and Brittany lied down, resting her head on her paws. But the Kandrona began to move, inches at a time.

Just then, I heard voices outside and refocused my attention on the front door.

_[They're armed,]_ Kurt warned. _[They're approaching the door.]_

I felt myself tensing again. Any second, a dozen armed Hork-Bajir were going to come pouring into the building. A dozen Hork-Bajir against five wolves and Kurt, if he decided to come down and join our fight. Granted, if we were getting our asses beat, Mercedes and Sam could definitely find it in their hearts to help us out, but we needed them to make destroying the Kandrona a priority so we could leave- almost nothing else mattered.

The door burst open suddenly, and I leapt into action, snarling. The Hork-Bajir looked surprised- or as close to surprised as an alien Godzilla can manage to look- at the five wolves waiting for him on the other side of the door, and he stepped back as we surged forward as a unit, snapping and growling.

TSEEEW!

A burn hole appeared in my shoulder, but it did nothing except succeed in pissing me off. I snapped savagely at Hork-Bajir limbs, ripping and tearing into whatever I could reach.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

Dracon fire was everywhere- it was chaos- but we were avoiding most of the shots, nimbly twisting and turning and dodging. It was hard for the Hork-Bajir to get in a clear shot with us being in such close proximity. Unlike most forms I had been, my most valuable weapon was my mouth, which required me to get up close and personal with the Hork-Bajir. I bit into one's neck and squeezed, feeling hot blood rushing down my throat. I heard the wheeze of the alien's last breath before I ripped my mouth away, snarling.

I paused to look around. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, we were actually holding our own pretty well. The thick underbrush made it hard for the Hork-Bajir to find decent footing with their huge tyrannosaurus feet, and they weren't able to avoid us as easily as we were able to swarm them. We were all teeth and claws, and once they were on the ground, it ended quickly for them.

My eyes found Brittany's in the mess. Her muzzle was covered in dark blood, and her teeth were bared, and she was definitely a wolf, but I still couldn't stop my heart from pounding stupidly. I guess it's true that I loved Brittany regardless of what form she was in- not that I wanted to get freaky with any animals or anything, ugh.

_[Two Hork-Bajir entering the building!]_ Kurt called down.

Brittany and I shared an unspoken look; then we both raced towards the rusty building in pursuit of the two Hork-Bajir Kurt had spotted. I leaped through the doorway and into the building, following the scent of the Hork-Bajir, and saw them approaching Sam and Mercedes, who were still focused on moving the Kandrona. They were about a foot away from the outside wall of the building when one Hork-Bajir opened fire.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

_[Oh, hell to the naw!]_ Mercedes roared. _[I'll stomp this motha-]_

_[No need,]_ I laughed, chomping into the Hork-Bajir's firing arm. He instantly dropped the Dracon beam, sending me a surprised look. I guess he hadn't seen me coming.

FWAPP!

Brittany, who had transformed in the time it had taken me to bring down the first Hork-Bajir, had severed the second Hork-Bajir's head, and it landed on the floor nearby with a sickening thwack. Brittany then made short work of the metal wall of the building, carving three neat gashes in the shape of a door, and then kicked the panel off with her back legs. It was very effective, and, with Sam's help, Mercedes eventually pushed the Kandrona past the outside wall. Brittany used her tail to cut down the grass and underbrush in the way of the Kandrona, clearing the path to the drop-off. Another Hork-Bajir came tearing around the corner of the building, but a snap of Brittany's tail and it wasn't an issue anymore.

_[More jeeps approaching!] _

I swallowed, looking wildly at Mercedes and Sam who were still pushing the Kandrona at a snail's pace. Shit. We needed to hurry. _[Kurt- how much further to the ravine?]_

_[Another few yards. You're not going to make it to the drop-off before the reinforcement jeeps roll up.]_

_ [Shit,]_ I cursed. _[Okay, new strategy: Quinn!]_

A wolf padded up to me moments later, panting_. [Yeah?]_

_[Rhino. Now. Help them push.]_

_ [On it.] _

As she changed, I looked at Brittany_. [Wolf?]_

She shrugged_. [Probably. It's hard for me to find purchase in this dense scrub with my hooves. However, I'm not as lethal outside of my natural form-]_

_[I'd rather you be _safe_,] _I said fervently, looking into her bright, blue eyes. Brittany stared back at me for a moment, then nodded in surrender. As she shifted to wolf, my ears perked up at the sounds of the approaching jeeps. They rolled to a stop at the front of the building, just barely within my line of sight.

"Stop them!" One of the Hork-Bajir yelled in his guttural, accented English as he spied an elephant, a rhino, and a gorilla attempting to push the Kandrona off a cliff and into the ravine below. I would've laughed at how stupid the whole situation was if I wasn't currently about to engage in a deadly fight.

More Dracon fire erupted from the approaching Hork-Bajir, and the ground exploded in dirt all around me. A wolf- Brittany- raced forward and leapt, her huge front paws hitting the Hork-Bajir in the chest and knocking him onto his back. Seconds later she was violently tearing out his throat. A black, singing hole suddenly appeared in her side, and she yelped, her ears flattening to her skull, and I followed the line of fire to another Hork-Bajir, who was preparing to fire again.

Like _that_ was fucking happening.

I sprinted into action, closing my jaws around the Hork-Bajir's thigh. He sliced at me with his wrist blade, opening a long cut down my back, but I squeezed harder, twisting my head and dragging him down to the forest floor. He flailed wildly, but another wolf- Blaine- came and silenced him.

I let myself go for a while, losing myself to the battle, to the wolf's instincts. I don't even remember much of it. I know I attained several deep cuts, but I was so pumped up on adrenaline that I didn't notice until the battle began to die down.

The rest of the Hork-Bajir perched behind jeeps and took shots at us, which we narrowly avoided. It was somewhat of a stalemate, because they couldn't get closer without being ripped to shreds, and we couldn't get to them without being disintegrated by Dracon fire- but all the while Mercedes, Sam, and Quinn were slowly but steadily moving the huge steel box closer to the edge of the ravine.

_[You're almost there,]_ Kurt said. _[But there's another group of four-wheelers approaching. This one has human-Controllers in it- and someone we know very well.]_

My stomach dropped. Visser Seven was on his way up the mountain. We needed to bail, and quickly. If he reached us, there was no telling what kind of strange alien he would turn into, and then we'd really be in the fight of our lives. We had barely escaped the aquarium. We just weren't prepared to deal with Visser Seven on this mission.

_[Mercedes, Sam, Quinn- give it all you've got,]_ I said. _[Brittany, help them push.]_

_[Santana-]_

I turned to her, our eyes meeting. _[Don't argue. _Please_. I need you to be safe.]_

_[And I need _you_ to be safe. I can't ensure that unless I'm by your side.]_

My heart swelled with adoration again, but I shook my shaggy head. I didn't know why I felt so protective all of a sudden- maybe it was the alpha mentality rubbing off on me- but I really didn't have time to argue. _[Okay, then. Blaine, help them push. We have to get that thing over before Puck gets here.]_

We were so close- the Kandrona was right on the edge, and then, it just stopped.

_[It's jammed!]_ Sam said angrily. _[Shit!]_

_[Doesn't matter,]_ Mercedes said faintly. She crumpled to her knees- it was a sad thing to witness. _[I'm done, anyways. I can't- I can't.]_

Quinn struggled to push on her own, and Sam and Blaine helped, but I guess witnessing Mercedes' collapse, along with the impending arrival of Visser Seven had emboldened the Yeerks, because they decided to try and rush us. With only me, Arty, and Brittany defending the others, it grew a little harder to take on their advances, but we couldn't just back down.

Brittany and I made an awesome team, disabling them methodically and speedily, but we were tiring; I was still bleeding in places, and it was slowly draining my strength. I was panting, winded. We all were. And it seemed like the Hork-Bajir that approached were endless, aiming Dracon beams at us. I wasn't sure I even had enough energy to completely avoid the shots anymore. I braced myself for the imminent pain of the burns, but instead, they shot behind us, hitting Mercedes' elephant.

_[Aaah! Ow!]_ She struggled weakly to her feet, trying to avoid the shots, which was impossible, because she was as big as a house.

_[Santana, I thought you were supposed to be stopping them!]_ Sam yelled.

_[I'm fucking beat, okay?]_ I snapped, my chest heaving_. [There's too many. Either make one last ditch effort to get that thing over, or we need to spring out of here without it.]_

_[We can't abandon this, we're too close!]_ Mercedes argued. She half-heartedly pressed her head against the metal, but she didn't even have enough strength to push, only lean her weight against it.

_[It's not worth dying over,]_ Kurt said from the sky_. [And we will definitely die if we don't get out of here before Visser Seven arrives.]_

Brittany padded over to the edge of the drop off. Then, quickly, she began to change. I covered her as best I could, because she made a bright, lavender target for the Hork-Bajir to shoot at. She examined the ledge for a moment, and then took a step back.

FWACK! FWACK! FWACK! FWACK!

The ground beneath the edge of the Kandrona began to crumble as she whipped her tail, slicing through the rock and dirt and loosening up the earth. I watched, completely amazed at how smart Brittany was, but the burn hole that appeared in Sam's chest made me snap back into action.

_[Quinn! Lean forward! Help her out!]_

Brittany continued to cut up the ground, and with Quinn's added weight, the Kandrona tipped over. Once it tipped, however, gravity did the rest of the work, and it hurtled off the edge and plummeted quickly to the ravine below.

I heard the loud, echoing smash as it exploded into smithereens like an old Road Runner cartoon, and, satisfied, I said, _[Let's get the fuck out of here.]_

_ [Word,]_ Arty said.

We took off through the woods, with Kurt guiding us. Mercedes, Quinn, and Sam began transforming, and eventually, they were scrambling through the woods as humans. Once we got to a relatively secluded location, we paused. Kurt fluttered down to make the transformation to wolf, along with Brittany, Quinn, Sam, and Mercedes, and I re-transformed to heal myself (because those injuries were slowing me down a lot more than I wanted.)

Once we were a pack again, we sprinted through the brush silently, trying to listen for any sounds of our pursuers, but it was mostly quiet. I guess we had managed to evade Visser Seven and the others, but let's be honest, trying to keep up with wolves in the forest? Not happening.

_[So, Arty, Blaine- you guys survived your first mission,] _Sam said cheerfully.

_[I guess so,]_ Arty agreed.

_[That was wild,]_ Blaine said.

_[Yeah, it usually is,]_ Mercedes laughed.

_[You know what's funny?]_ Kurt asked suddenly.

_[You in tiny, sparkly gold shorts and nothing else?]_ I offered.

_[No, that's _horrifying_, San,]_ Brittany dead-panned, and I couldn't stop from laughing, a little giddy that we had barely survived yet another mission- but we _had_ survived.

_[Oh, ha, ha,]_ Kurt said flatly. _[No, I was thinking-]_

_ [Had to happen sometime.]_

_ [Can you actually just let me talk for one second?]_

_ [Huh? Did you say something?]_

Kurt huffed in annoyance, and I laughed again.

_[Okay, Kurt, go ahead,]_ Quinn giggled. _[I think Santana's done.]_

_ [Yeah- _I_ want to know what's funny,]_ Mercedes chimed in.

_[Well, for being in charge of the protection of that place, she wasn't even _there_,]_ Kurt pointed out.

_[Huh?]_ Sam asked. _[Who?]_

_ [Tina.]_

_ [Oh. Hm. I wonder where she was,]_ Sam wondered. Obviously. Because he said so in his sentence.

_[I hope we didn't get Tina in trouble,]_ Arty said.

We all laughed nervously at the thought, but in the back of my mind, I knew better. Visser Seven was not a happy camper when things didn't go his way. And I'm sure that Tina's Yeerk, whoever he/she was, was probably in a _shitload_ of trouble. I just hoped Tina the human didn't pay the ultimate price- hosts were disposable to Visser Seven and his rage.

_[San?]_ Brittany said gently, snapping me out of my dark thoughts.

_[Yeah, Britt?]_

_ [Can we go home and cuddle?]_

I couldn't help grinning_. [It's like you read my mind.]_

* * *

**So next chapter will be pretty funny, I think. Then after that, shit's gonna get pretty heavy again.** **So stay tuned!**

**Review if you feel like it, and see you later this week, hopefully. I should have some time to write on Tuesday/Wednesday, so I'm going to try and get another update out for you guys in a few days. **

**Take care, kids!**


	25. Arabian Nights

**Oh my God. Just leave me alone to die. Nothing kills my will to write more than _Glee,_ lmao. Fuck you, _Glee,_ I'm trying to survive here!**

**Never fear, though, I will never give up on this story, or Brittana. Because they are always on, and so is my AC because where the fuck did winter in Florida go?! We seriously had like three days below 70.**

**Anyways. Sorry for the late update. This chapter and the next were supposed to be one big chapter, but as usual, that doesn't happen because I can't stop writing. Seriously, someone needs to tell me to STFU.**

**The good news is that I should have another update for you guys on Monday, but don't hold your breath because then if you pass out and die I'll feel really awful.**

**Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. You guys are great. Bigger thanks to everyone who favorited and/or followed the story, you guys are greater! Biggest, jumbo-sized thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter- you guys are the greatest!**

**Hope y'alls enjoy this chapter, just remember that this story is M-rated. ;)**

* * *

"I can't believe I'm watching this movie," I muttered for probably the fiftieth time since it started.

"Shut up and pass me the popcorn," Quinn growled, reaching across my lap to snatch the bowl off of Brittany's. Brittany's face fell as the popcorn relocated into Quinn's lap, and I grabbed it back, placing it in my own lap, so Brittany could still reach it.

"Share," I hissed to Quinn.

Quinn rolled her eyes, but made no attempt to take the popcorn back, and Brittany beamed at me adoringly, reaching into the bowl to grab some more popcorn.

"Can you guys be quiet over there?" Mercedes asked, sounding annoyed. Of course she was- she probably didn't want to watch this bullshit movie, either.

"Yeah, _some_ of us are actually trying to watch the movie," Kurt said seriously, and I laughed, because, really?

"No one's actually trying to watch this movie," I corrected. Sam sighed.

We were all gathered in the entertainment room, crowded around the television. Quinn, Brittany and I were on the couch, Sam and Mercedes were on the loveseat, Kurt and Blaine were on the floor and Arty had pulled up a chair. We were doing something we labeled as "intel" but in reality we were watching a movie that most of us, with the exception of Blaine (who was nodding his head during the musical numbers and mouthing the lyrics, _barf_), were not enjoying.

"He's such a hottie," Sugar piped up from her place on the recliner.

Oh, right. I'd forgotten she was there, too. Because she actually _wanted_ to watch the stupid movie. And because I tried to pretend she didn't actually exist- unless I needed something.

It's not exactly how I would've liked to spend my night, but we didn't have much of a choice. Because guess what? That concert artist I joked about a while back?

Yeah, well.

It turned out to be reality.

And so the nine of us were spending our Thursday night watching a movie.

About Justin Bieber.

Fuck. My. Life.

* * *

"Well, that was the worst way to spend 105 minutes of my time," I stated once the end credits rolled.

"And you can never get those back," Arty chimed in.

"You've gotta hand it to the kid, though, he's pretty impressive," Sam said conversationally.

I blinked, because. _What_?

"He's really sweet to his fans," Mercedes agreed.

I rolled my eyes. "Are you guys sick? I think you're coming down with a case of Bieber Fever."

Brittany's eyes widened. "Is that real?"

Blaine laughed. "He's pretty attractive, but I'm not sure I'm into him."

"Really? Because you seemed to know all of his songs and looked pretty into the movie," Quinn pointed out with a smirk. Blaine blushed.

"He was just really devoted to the research," Kurt defended.

"Right, and _I'm_ really devoted to Liza Minnelli's work," I said with another eye roll.

"Who's Liza Minnelli?" Brittany wondered as Quinn gave me a low five in slow motion.

Kurt's eyes widened in horror at Brittany's statement, but then Sam spoke. "Regardless, I think we learned a lot about the kid, and what to expect at his concert on Sunday." Trust Sam to bring us back to the boring shit.

Mercedes nodded. "True. We need to figure out when he's going to be getting into town-"

"Tomorrow," Sugar interrupted casually. Oh, yeah. I forgot she was still in the room. I looked at her; she was leaned way back in her recliner, looking totally relaxed. Her pet sugar glider was curled up and asleep on her chest. "_And_ he's staying at the Hilton down the street from the Convention Center."

"That's kind of a haul out of town," Arty pointed out. "We should think about staying the night out there in the city."

"Like, rent a hotel? Do you know how much the Hilton costs?" I demanded.

"Because _money_ is the issue," Sugar rolled her eyes.

I blinked. She had a point. "Well, in _that_ case, let's go! I could be down for a night- or _two_- at the Hilton."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Sam said seriously. "We need a _plan_." Like that ever fucking mattered, our plans never worked-

"That's _your_ job," Quinn stated.

Sam gawked. "Okay. Uh. How about this- we fly up tomorrow, check out the venue, see if we can spy Justin- then, we. Uh-"

"-stay at the Hilton, do some more spying on Saturday and Sunday morning, and crash the concert Sunday night," I finished.

"Sounds reasonable," Arty said. "I'm in."

Blaine nodded. "Likewise."

Sugar sat up in her recliner, scooping up her pet marsupial in her hands and climbing to her feet. "I'll book your rooms," she said, bored, wandering out of the room. Like I cared. Although- it was nice having someone to do everything for us. Like a personal assistant to our little band of freaks. She was like the Pepper Potts to-

Okay, woah. That's a _lot_ inaccurate.

But whatever. You get the idea.

* * *

_[So how'd you manage to convince your parents to let you away for the weekend?]_ Kurt asked conversationally as we flew miles above the ground towards our destination in another city.

_[Yeah, especially since they still think you're blind,] _Mercedes chimed in.

_[I told them I was going away to a rehab spa retreat with Arty,]_ Blaine said.

_[Sounds romantic,]_ I said. _[I'm sure your parents are thrilled that you and Arty are spending so much quality time.]_

If Kurt could've, I'm sure he would've glared hard at me. As it turns out, though, hawks are pretty much always glaring, so he had no effect. Not that he would've even if his face wasn't fixed in an eternal glare.

We were all in bird forms and had been flying for hours. We'd already stopped to re-transform once, and still had quite a way to go. I kind of just wondered why we didn't get Lauren to drive us in the Pedo-van, but the last thing we needed was to be spotted or tailed by the Yeerks. It was bad enough we were supposedly walking into some kind of secret Yeerk plot to infest Justin Bieber.

Did that sound retarded to you? Because it totally _is_.

After what seemed like days of flying, we finally came upon the Hilton. Or at least, I hoped it was the right one. I'd only been to the Convention Center once to see an Alanis Morisette concert (don't judge me) so I didn't really know the area that well.

Unlike some people.

_[That's it,]_ Kurt said.

_[Come here often?]_ Sam asked.

_[As a matter of fact, _yes_,]_ Kurt said before I could crack a joke about Sam's pick-up line pun_. [There were Bette Midler_ and_ Barbra Streisand tribute concerts here recently, as well as-]_

_ [Oh, wow, I didn't think it was possible for you to get gayer,]_ I said, feigning awe.

_[_Anything's_ possible,]_ Quinn said. Since she was the biggest bird in her bald eagle form, we had fitted her with a tiny little fanny pack to carry the paper stuff we'd need to check in to the hotel- like Sugar's credit card.

_[I think it's cool,]_ Blaine said. _[I can appreciate your good taste, Kurt.]_

_ [Tell me you're joking!] _I demanded, appalled.

_[Thank you, Blaine,]_ Kurt said pointedly_. [It seems there are some people in this world with an appreciation for the arts.] _

_ [Oh, I'm sure the _arts_ is what he has an appreciation for,]_ Quinn teased.

_[Nice, Q.] _

_ [Wasn't it?]_

_ [Do you two always have to gang up on me?] _Kurt sighed.

_[Uh. _Yeah_. What else would we have done on this boring ass flight?]_ I asked_. [Be grateful Brittany hasn't joined in yet.]_

_ [I guess there are some things to be thankful for.]_

_ [Blaine obviously wants your dick,]_ Brittany said monotonously.

It was silent for approximately ten whole seconds, and then Quinn and I burst out laughing.

_[Nevermind,]_ Kurt muttered, embarrassed.

* * *

_[Okay, so we check in to the hotel, then we split into teams. Half of us stay here to search for Justin, and the other half fly out to the venue to get a feel for the backstage area and figure out where the Yeerks are going to try and infest him. We have to know what we're going into,] _Sam said, sounding _all business_ as we perched on the edge of the roof of the Hilton hotel. Or at least, _trying_ to sound _all business_. But it was Sam, so it was kind of hard to take him seriously. _[Any questions?]_

I raised my wing. _[Yeah, hi, I have a question: how the fuck do we even check in to the hotel?]_ I asked, annoyed. _[What if it's run by Yeerks? If Sugar knows where Biebs is staying, then the Yeerks obviously do. They must have some people at the hotel to keep watch over him. We can't risk being spotted- and we're kind of on the Yeerks' Most Wanted list, ya feels me?]_

_ [Hadn't thought of that,]_ Sam admitted.

_[Because we _never_ do,]_ I snapped.

_[Because we always fly-]_ Quinn started.

_[-by the seat of our pants!]_ Brittany finished, way more enthusiastic than she should've been. It still made me smile inside, though.

Sam chuckled despite the situation_. [Okay, well, Santana: you and I always manage to talk our way through these situations. We'll get some disguises, and we'll check everyone in.]_

_ [You really like trying my patience, don't you, Trouty?]_

_ [It's my favorite pastime,]_ Sam said wryly.

* * *

"I just need you to sign this, Mrs. Rivera," the soft-spoken black guy (girl?) behind the hotel counter said, shoving some papers in my direction- yeah, I used my fake ID, so what? It's not like I could _actually_ give them my real name and information. If I did that, I might as well've just put a huge fucking neon sign pointing at me saying, "here I am! Please come and enslave me!" We had no way of knowing if the person behind the counter was a Controller, which was why Sam and I were currently in disguises- and, well, you should know by now how seriously I take my disguises.

I silently looked at Sam, trying not to break character and playing the part of an obedient- but not clearly _understanding_- wife.

"I a-need you to sign a-these!" Sam said in the worst Italian accent ever attempted, basically reiterating what the guy (girl?) behind the counter had said. The person's nametag said "~Unique~" (complete with the flourish) but I wasn't sure if that was their name, or their life signature, or their job title, or what… I tried not to roll my eyes at Sam's terrible accent and disguise as I moved to sign the papers. He kind of looked like a bigger-lipped version of Mario, complete with a cap to hide the fact that his blond hair did not match his thick, bushy, _black_ stick-on mustache. He was wearing a button-up Hawaiian shirt that was so bright I'm pretty sure it was blinding me, and orange flip-flops.

Yes, I'm completely serious.

And me? Well, to describe my disguise in a few words, let's just say I went all Arabian Nights up in that bitch. Look, the only place to buy disguises nearby was a small outdoor tent in some kind of craft fair in the courtyard by the Convention Center, so there wasn't a whole lot of _normal_ shit to choose from. Besides, I think I looked pretty damn smokin' in my glittery red veil.

Eat your heart out, Princess Jasmine.

After we finished signing the papers, Sam thanked "~Unique~"- yeah, still wondering about that- and led me away, avoiding the strange looks we gained from the other hotel patrons. As we exited the entrance lobby and entered the actual building, we were greeted with a huge fountain, marble floors, real trees, and gold-plated- well- _everything_. I hadn't ever stayed at such a fancy hotel before, so I was eating that shit up. But let's be honest, I might as well get used to it, because after the war, I was going to be famous.

"Up a-to the third floor, the map a-says," Sam said, and this time I couldn't stop the eye roll if I tried, but I was just so tired of fighting it. We boarded the elevator (which had like, carpet and shit in it) and rode it up to the third floor, which wasn't exactly the penthouse, but compared to every other hotel I'd ever been in, it might as well have been.

Once we unlocked one of the four rooms Sugar had booked for us (I know, right?), we quickly opened up the balcony doors and waved. Six birds swooped carefully down, one by one, into the room and began to transform. While they were changing, I shut the blinds to the balcony. We were on the third floor, but some creeper with binoculars could've easily seen into our room. And let's be real, there are a lot of creepers with binoculars hanging around, especially when celebrities are involved.

Once everyone was transformed, and Brittany was human, Arty started laughing at our disguises. "Seriously? _That's_ the best you could come up with?"

"How about: go fuck yourself," I snapped, showing him my middle finger.

"Calm down, Shiva," Quinn smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "_Actually_, my name is Naya Rive-"

"Can we focus?" Kurt interrupted.

"I'm sorry, it's hard to focus with Sam looking like-" Mercedes trailed off, trying to hold in her laugh.

"_I_ think they look great," Brittany said. I smiled at her, but felt my face heating up as I noticed her extremely appreciative leering. I suddenly remembered that most of my outfit consisted of skimpy see-through silk and _all_ of my stomach and cleavage was just out there for any ol' person to perv on. But I didn't mind Brittany perving on me. I smiled, winked subtly at Brittany, and then Sam spoke.

"Okay, you all know a-your room assignments," he said, waving his hand emphatically.

"Sammy, we're not in public anymore- fortunately- so please refrain from using that god-awful accent," I said. Sam looked like I just kicked his puppy, and I felt bad for, like, a _fraction_ of a second, so I huffed and said, "Look, you'll have plenty of chances to use it again later, all right?"

Sam brightened a little. He gestured to Kurt. "Our room is across the hall."

"Lead the way," Kurt said, following Sam out.

I turned to Mercedes. "You and Quinn are rooming together." I handed them a key. "It's the one next door." I pointed in the direction. "Blaine, you're with Arty on the other side of Quinn and Mercedes." I handed them their key as well. I grinned. "And Britt, you're with me."

"Like that wasn't _totally_ obvious and planned," Quinn said good-naturedly with a roll of her eyes.

I smirked and shrugged. "What can I say, some things _do_ turn out in my favor." I waved them away. "Go check out your rooms, then meet back here in five; Sam wants to discuss the next step in our _brilliant_ plan."

Blaine chuckled and Arty followed him out, then Mercedes, then Quinn, who paused long enough to shoot me a _suspicious raised eyebrow_ look over her shoulder as she exited. I gave her a tiny smug wave as she left, then turned to Brittany.

My eyes caught hers and I gulped.

Her blue eyes were dark and tracing over my body, and I kind of felt like a rabbit being regarded by a fox.

"Like what you see?" I asked teasingly, smirking at her and running my hand down my side to accentuate my outfit. Brittany nodded absently, and her gaze was so intense and lingering that I swore I could almost feel it on my skin, like a tingle setting all my nerves on fire.

Brittany stepped closer, her warm hands sliding across my bare stomach, and I gasped slightly at her touch. It was like a jolt of electricity to me, and I felt my body heating up as Brittany leaned down and kissed me roughly. Her hands slid to the small of my back, pulling me flush against her, and my arms immediately flew around her neck, embracing her fully as her tongue invaded my mouth.

I couldn't help the slight moan that worked its way out of my throat as she continued to kiss me thoroughly, and without realizing it, I felt the back of my thighs hit something, some piece of furniture or whatever, and then I was being lifted and set down on top of it. I guess it was a dresser or-

"Britt-" I gasped between kisses. She was relentless; her hands were gripping my thighs and she pulled me in close to her body, and I had no choice but to wrap my legs around her waist. But, we couldn't-

"_Britt_," I tried again, and this time she stopped kissing me and instead attacked my neck. I clenched my fist in her hair as I felt her teeth graze my skin. "We only have five minutes," I murmured next to her ear, but it was hard for me to care with all the amazing things she was doing to my neck with her mouth. One of her hands slid up my stomach to grope my breasts, and I let my head fall back against the wall in ecstasy. My whole body was throbbing, it had been too long since Brittany had touched me- we just hadn't had time, but now that she was, I felt like everything was too much and not enough all at once. Her fingers found my nipple and I made a pretty embarrassing sound. Then, she- oh, fuck-

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

"Oh, _fuck_," I cursed angrily. Perfect fucking timing. I contemplated just leaving whoever was at the door there in favor of letting Brittany finish what we'd started. I was so turned on it could probably be quick. And I could definitely pretend I hadn't heard the door, right?

_KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK._

Brittany met my gaze.

"Oh, fuck _everything_," I growled, hopping down from the dresser. I paused to give Brittany a gentle kiss on the lips. I cupped her cheek, stroking my thumb over it, and then daringly bit her lower lip softly, tugging it, teasing her. Her breath hitched, her grip on me tightening, and I smiled. "I promise we will finish this later," I breathed. I leaned in to kiss her again-

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Oh my fucking GOD I AM GOING TO DESTROY YOU," I raged at the door as I ripped it open, revealing Sam, still in his ridiculous fucking mustache, and Kurt, who looked like he knew _exactly_ what Brittany and I had been doing but interrupted anyway- _urgghh_. "COME THE FUCK IN, IMPATIENT _ASSHOLES_."

"Jeez, Santana. _Inside_ voices," Kurt said smugly from the doorway. I contemplated strangling him.

Sam quietly walked into the room with Kurt, who was sporting a rather pleased smirk on his feminine-looking lips, right behind him. Sam greeted Brittany, who gave him a glare that was a cross between annoyed, sexually frustrated, and pissed the fuck off- an exact copy of my look, really- and Sam scratched his head, confused.

"Uh, did I interrupt-"

"_Yes_," Brittany and I said in unison.

KNOCK. KNO-

I flung the door open quickly to reveal Blaine, who still had his fist raised, ready to knock again. He looked terrified at my expression. And, well, he _should_ be. I was fully prepared to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. "Come in," I grumbled. Quinn and Mercedes came in just as I was closing the door, and finally we were all gathered.

I sat on the end of the bed and crossed my arms. My body was still strung tight, but the denial of my release had instantly turned my arousal into frustration. I really just wanted everyone to leave so that Brittany could-

"Okay," Sam started, rubbing his hands together in excitement. "We've got a lot to get done: we've gotta find Justin, and also discover the lay-out of the stage area so that we can guess where the Yeerks are going to set up their _Little Shop of Horrors_."

"Feed me, Seymour," Blaine said abruptly in a deep voice. Kurt looked like he might faint from adoration. I just rolled my eyes and tried to hold on to my patience, which was slowly- okay, no, _quickly_- creeping away.

Sam grinned at Blaine's acknowledgement of his reference (nothing pleases Sam more than people getting his references). "So- we split up into teams. Mercedes, Arty and I will stay here and check out the hotel, see if we can find Justin's room. Quinn, you take Brittany and check out some of the stuff around close to the hotel."

"What kind of _stuff_?" Quinn asked skeptically.

"Like, places you think Justin might go. The gas station, the club, anywhere. You don't have to go into the places. Just ask around, see if anyone's seen him, or if he's inside. If he is, then wait and tail him when he leaves. Have Brittany ask, since Controllers won't recognize her. And if stuff gets out of hand, she can transform quickly and be ready while you do the same."

Quinn nodded, smiling at Brittany, who returned it. "Sounds good."

"Santana-" Sam started.

"I'll go with Q and Britt," I cut in.

"Uh- no. You're with Kurt and Blaine-"

"Absolutely not."

"-to check out the Convention Center," Sam finished, ignoring my blatant protests.

"That's _really_ okay," I offered graciously. "I can go with Quinn-"

"No," Sam said firmly. His eyes met mine. "I need you with them."

"Why? Like _I_ know the fucking place? I was only there _once_ for a concert!" I complained.

"What concert?" Blaine asked, genuinely interested.

I snapped my fingers at him. "Not imp-"

"Alanis Morisette," Quinn said quickly, betraying me.

I turned to glare at her, fuming. "Q!" Quinn shrugged carelessly in response. _Bitch_.

"Santana," Sam said softly, bringing my attention, and, consequently, my anger, back to him. "It's more times than the rest of us have been there."

I sighed in irritation, but I knew I wasn't getting out of it.

"Fine."

* * *

I really should've tried to get out of it harder.

_Team Gay Minus Brittany_ was not as exciting as any other _Team Gay_. Kurt and Blaine spent the entire time flirting and conversing about- well- _gay_ shit, and I sulked along behind them, missing Brittany more than I ever thought possible.

Especially since I had to listen to the most irritating conversation in the world. I couldn't even tune it out- it was _that_ awful.

_[On the count of three, name your favorite 2012 Vogue cover,]_ Kurt said enthusiastically. _[One, two, three!]_

_[Marion Cotillard!]_ Blaine and Kurt said at the same time, then they giggled together. I wondered if my bird form could throw up. I'm sure it could, I mean, that's how baby birds got fed-

_[Oh my god, stop it!]_ Blaine gushed.

_[I know, I kn-]_

_[No, really- _stop it_,]_ I cut in. _[I'm not sure I can take much more of this repulsive conversation.]_

_ [Someone's jealous,] _Blaine sang.

_[Get over it,]_ Kurt said, annoyed. _[How many times did I have to watch you and Brittany make out?]_

_[First off, you should be thankful I even _let_ you witness Brittany and I making out. Second- you're welcome.]_

_[Wait- you're dating Brittany?]_ Blaine asked, confused.

_[Wait- you have brains?]_

_ [Don't mind her, Blaine,]_ Kurt said soothingly. _[She's just mad because we interrupted her failed attempt to get some horizontal action before the mission.]_

_ [Actually, we were doing just fine _vertically_, if you must know.]_

_ [No, I really didn't.]_

_ [Well-]_

_ [It looks like there's something going on at the Convention Center,_] Blaine stated suddenly, bringing my attention back to the mission before I could cut Kurt down with a crippling insult. _[The parking lot's full.]_

_[We should've checked the line-up,]_ Kurt said as we circled around to the back of the building.

_[Too late now. Let's see if we can sneak in backstage.]_ I swooped down towards the loading dock. The overhead door was cracked open about a foot, letting light spill out into the darkness of the area. A huge truck was backed up to the door, but there was no one in sight. How extremely fortunate.

I landed near the door and hopped over to the opening, lowering my head slightly to peek inside. Two guys were standing there chatting softly about some stupid football team, and I briefly looked around to see if there was any way we could hop in without them noticing. They weren't looking towards us, but if they suddenly turned around, they'd definitely notice two predator birds and a canary strolling into the building. But it didn't really look like we had much of a choice otherwise.

_[What's it look like in there?]_ Blaine asked.

_[There's two guys talking. We can probably just walk in- we just have to be careful and move as quickly as possible to avoid them seeing us,]_ I said.

_[Then what?]_ Kurt asked.

_[Then we transform and look around. Hopefully no one will notice we don't belong. Just try to stick to the shadows.]_ I took another look around the room. The two guys were still chatting away about football, so I began to walk under the door. _[I'm going for it.]_

I carefully shuffled my little bird feet across the floor as fast as I could go. It was awkward- I wasn't used to _walking_ as a bird, and my long, curved talons didn't exactly make it easy. I ended up moving almost sideways on a diagonal, and finally I was out of sight, tucked away in a dark hallway. I began my transformation back to human.

_[Oh, they're talking about the New Mexico Bowl!]_ Blaine said excitedly from the other room as he be-bopped towards the hallway I was in. _[That Arizona game was intense!]_

_[You watch football?]_ Kurt asked incredulously.

_[I'm a college football fan,]_ Blaine said nonchalantly. _[I like sports too, you know.]_

_ [Oh, way to break the stereotype!]_ Kurt said around a mouthful of Blaine's dick.

Oops, I mean-

"Can you two just shut up and transform," I hissed in a whisper as they finally reached me.

_[Why do you hate everything?]_ Blaine asked in a huff.

"I don't hate everything- just you," I whispered as they began to transform. When they finished, I began to walk down the hall, with both of them tailing behind me.

"Have you read Patti LuPone's new book?" Kurt asked in a whisper. Wow, they just couldn't stop, could they?

"Who's Patti LuPone?" Blaine wondered. It was silent (I briefly hoped Kurt had dropped dead from a heart attack at Blaine's response, but there was no immediate thud of his body hitting the floor, so I was disappointed) and then Blaine laughed slightly. "I'm kidding! Of course I have!" Ugh, just when I was actually starting to like Blaine, he goes and ruins it.

"You scared me so much there," Kurt confessed breathlessly. I found myself growing increasingly more frustrated- either from the fact that being with the two of them together was enraging, or that I craved Brittany's company, who the fuck cares? They were really annoying the fuck out of me.

"This is _great_. Thank you," I said sweetly, turning to them to offer them the most enthusiastically sarcastic smile I could muster. "Now I get to spend time with _two_ pretty ponies instead of just one." Kurt gave me a sour look and I spun on my heel to continue walking. Kurt and Blaine stayed blessedly silent after that.

We continued moving carefully through the building. We weren't directly behind the stage, so we didn't actually run in to any of the tech people. And there wasn't really anyone else hanging out in the passages. We searched around, looking for any place that the Yeerks could use to possibly infest the Biebs. It was dark except for small intermittent floor lights, and the floor plan was unfamiliar, but eventually we turned down a hallway that led us to a series of doors- dressing rooms. They had numbers on them, starting with the number five and working their way down the farther away they got.

The last one- it had a _zero_ on it; weird, right?- was the farthest from the stage, and judging by the proximity to the other rooms, it must've been huge inside. I paused to listen for a moment, and when I didn't hear any noise from inside, I reached for the door handle.

"Should we really be going in there?" Kurt asked in a vehement whisper.

I glared at him. "We came to investigate. If we don't go in, we won't know where the Yeerks are going to set up. This could be a storage closet for all we know."

"I think we've learned a lot already," Blaine offered softly, obviously siding with Kurt.

I rolled my eyes. "And _I_ think you look like a young Burt Reynolds." Blaine scrunched his enormous eyebrows up in confusion, and Kurt glared at me. I sighed, suddenly realizing the reason Sam had made me come along. Maybe Trouty knew more than I gave him credit for. "Look, we need to check this place out. So stop being a bunch of whimpering pansies and let's check it out." I focused back on the door and turned the handle, then pushed it open.

There was a dim light on, half-illuminating the room, and there was some kind of red velvet curtain or canopy hanging from the ceiling in the center of it. Uh, okay. _Weird_. I entered the room with Kurt and Blaine right behind me. Costume pieces were flung all over the floor and I stepped carefully to avoid tripping. Kurt veered to the left, towards a huge, plush loveseat; Blaine headed to the right, where there was a large vanity mirror set up, and I moved forward towards the canopy. There was a huge, ornate trunk sitting next to the soft, hanging material- the lid was popped open. Inside were a bunch of weird novelty items. Playing cards, coins, a saw, silk scarves, flower bouquets-

"It's a magic show," I said, suddenly putting the pieces together.

"What is?" Blaine asked.

"The show that's going on right now- it's some type of magic show." I bent to retrieve a strange vase from the trunk, holding it up and inspecting it carefully. Well, that explained why the only clothing kiosks we found in the courtyard outside were all _eccentric_ costumes. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh," Blaine said.

"Well, this is the ideal location to infest a celebrity," Kurt pointed out. "As far as we can tell, it's the main dressing room- it's private, there's a lock," he gestured to the door, "and it's relatively far from the stage, so no interruptions."

"Right," I agreed, reaching for the velvet canopy curtain next to the trunk and tugging on it. "I think we found our-"

I froze.

The tiger behind the curtain blinked at me.

It definitely wasn't wearing a collar.

"Shit."

I jumped back automatically, releasing the curtain and backing away, and wondered why the tiger hadn't made its presence known before. Maybe it had just been lazy. Maybe it mistook us for its owners. Maybe it just hadn't _cared_.

But it definitely cared _now_.

The tiger was on its feet and exiting the canopy in seconds. The exit happened to be on the left, right where Kurt was standing.

"Oh, my God!" Kurt shrieked, backing up quickly, his eyes wide in fear. Unfortunately, he tripped over some stupid cape that was crumpled on the floor, and landed on his ass. The tiger closed in on him. I was a few feet away, and I struggled to focus on transforming to cheetah. No _way_ could I stop that thing as a human-

Blaine lunged forward, his hand grabbing the tiger's back leg, and I had just enough time to _panic_; that tiger was going to rip Blaine to _shreds_-

But instead, its head dropped. Its eyes fluttered closed. It was in a trance!

Blaine was _acquiring_ it.

Of course. Why hadn't I thought of that?

"Get up," I hissed, reaching down to yank Kurt to his feet. "Once he breaks contact he's going to have seconds to get out of there. We need to be out the door before that happens." Kurt didn't say anything, only nodded vigorously, and I guided him to the door. He was shaking.

After a few long, tense moments, Blaine pulled his hand away and sprinted to the door, and we all scrambled through it and out into the hallway, practically climbing over each other in our haste. As I reached to pull the door closed, I saw the tiger's golden eyes snap open, but I was already shutting the door quickly.

I released a deep breath. "Holy fuck. That was too fucking close."

"Nice save," Kurt said- his voice wavered slightly- as he offered Blaine a genuine smile.

"Yeah, Eyebrows, I must admit- that was pretty quick thinking," I said.

Blaine beamed. "Thanks. I guess I have brains after all."

I smirked at him, giving him a brief nod of acknowledgement. "Now let's get the fuck out of here. I'm not interested in finding out what other kind of animals are in this magic show."

* * *

"No, shit- an actual tiger?" Arty asked in awe.

"Yeah," Blaine said.

"Well, at least you got a new avatar out of it," Sam said with a smile. "Good job, guys."

We were back in Sam and Kurt's hotel room, relaying what our separate teams had managed to find out. While I was in Gay Purgatory, Quinn and Brittany had managed to spot Bieber outside of the hotel, and followed him to some club called Club Ice. Creative, isn't it? He'd spent about an hour at the club before he'd been kicked out because after a certain time the club was 21 and up only. I'm not gonna lie, I laughed at the hilarity of it all.

Q and B tailed Bieber back to the hotel, where Sam, Arty and Mercedes had followed him inside like creepy stalker bugs and figured out where his hotel room was.

"Apparently, not being able to go clubbing hasn't deterred his party plans," Quinn said smugly. "He's throwing a hotel party instead."

"We should go," Arty suggested.

"No, thank you- the last person I want to hang out with is Justin Bieber. I don't care how good his boyish looks are," I said.

"Besides, we can't risk being spotted," Sam said. "I'm sure some of his people are Controllers. And as good as our disguises are-" I snorted, "-they will only make us stick out in a crowd like that."

"The good news is that, since he'll be up late, he'll probably get a late start tomorrow, which gives us plenty of time to catch up with him before he leaves his room," Mercedes pointed out.

"Right. We've gotta try and figure out what the Yeerks' plan is," Sam said with a firm nod. "So let's go to bed, and we'll reconvene in the morning."

"_Reconvene_?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow. "You've been waiting to say that, haven't you?"

Sam gave an embarrassed shrug.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed Brittany's hand. "We've gotta gay." I paused. "Go. We've gotta go."

"Mm-hm," Quinn said, sending me a smirk.

I ignored her and everyone else's knowing looks and headed for the door. Brittany smacked my ass on the way out, and I looked at her over my shoulder, not missing the blushes that were spreading over the others' faces behind her as we exited the room.

Whatever.

* * *

"I missed you so much," I murmured against Brittany's lips as she kissed me slowly, running her fingers through my hair. I sighed into her mouth, trying to press myself closer, but it was physically impossible. We were both lying on our sides on one of the beds, dressed in our pajamas. Brittany was cupping my chin with her left hand, her right playing with my hair. I had my right hand behind her neck, cradling her close; my left arm was lying across her waist, my hand splayed on the small of her back, pressed to her warm skin. We were straddling each other's thighs, and I relished the feeling of having her so close to me. I could feel the warmth emanating from everywhere on her body- her chest, her thigh between my legs, her center- I moaned softly into her mouth.

Brittany's grip on my hair tightened, and she pulled me unbelievably closer, her kiss growing harder, rougher. Her thigh pressed against me more firmly, and I gasped against her lips, shivering at the contact. I was already so turned on from her close proximity and the memory of where we had left off earlier in the day. My body seemed to respond eagerly, and without thinking I rolled my hips against her thigh, pushing my own against her at the same time.

Brittany's hand that was cupping my chin slid down to my chest, and without warning she thumbed my nipple through my shirt, working it into stiffness. I moaned louder, my hips thrusting more insistently against her, and she bit my lower lip teasingly. "I missed you, too," she said throatily, moving to kiss my chin. She nipped at my jaw and I closed my eyes, feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the different sensations exploding inside me. I could feel my blood heating up, my heart pounding, my pulse racing under my skin. My center was throbbing, aching for friction, and I had to concentrate on not bucking my hips against Brittany like some kind of wild animal, because that's what my body was telling me to do, and I was barely above listening to it.

I felt Brittany's other hand leave my hair and trace down my neck, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake. I shivered at her warm touch, and she slowly traced my exposed collarbone with her thumb before she moved to plant her lips there, sucking gently. My breath hitched. Her hand strayed lower, pushing my sleep shirt up a few inches, and my breathing increased. Her fingers teased my exposed skin, mapping from the small of my back around to my stomach, dipping under the waistband of my sleep shorts-

"You're so wet," Brittany breathed against my lips as I trembled against her. All I could do was nod and pant into her mouth as her fingers made contact with my most sensitive spot. My hips jerked forward involuntarily in response.

"Oh, God, Britt," I gasped, losing control of my hips. I needed her so _badly_-

"You're incredible, Santana," she whispered, reverent, and I whimpered into her neck as she made slow, deliberate circles with her fingers. My thighs began to shake. She was _teasing_ me.

"Britt- _fuck_."

"Shh, San." Brittany kissed me, her tongue entering my mouth to stroke and curl around mine. We kissed and kissed, and all the while Brittany let her fingers move at an agonizingly unhurried pace. My hips tried to encourage her to go faster, but she was having none of that. I tried to focus on the feeling of her against my thigh- I could feel how turned on she was through her shorts, and I was suddenly overcome with the desire to touch her, too. I let my hand dive down beneath her shorts, and I wasted no time in mimicking her actions and taking satisfaction at hearing her strangled gasp against my lips. I marveled for a moment at how perfect Brittany and I were for each other- I was left-handed, so it made touching each other simultaneously in this position a lot easier.

Her whole body shuddered as I followed her pace. I couldn't believe how wet she was. She bucked her hips eagerly, but I copied the motions of her fingers against me. It gave me something to focus on besides my own aching, throbbing need-

"San_tan_a," Brittany whimpered into my neck before she kissed it fervently, then sucked on it, then moaned again, her fingers picking up speed against me, making my breath hitch again. God, I loved the way she said my name like that. So- _ugh_. She licked up my neck, then pressed a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss to my jaw before she was kissing me fully on the lips, desperately, and I could feel her hips pushing against my hand more insistently.

I let my fingers slip lower, then drove two inside her without warning- she was _more_ than ready for me. She entered me in response, and we moaned into each other's mouths. I pumped into her slowly, sensually, stroking up over her sensitive spot as I pulled out, building her up at a steady, leisurely pace. Her thrusts were a lot more erratic- she was losing control of herself quickly, and I could hear her breath coming in ragged gasps, her chest heaving.

I had to stop kissing her- stupid _breathing_- but I let my lips fall to the side of her chin, then her jaw. Brittany's left hand came up to grip the spot where my neck met my shoulder, and she held onto it tightly, as if bracing herself. Her body was trembling lightly, and she was rutting against my hand, desperate to find her release. I let my mouth fall to the base of her neck, and I sucked it hard, pushing my fingers into her harder, allowing my thumb to graze her sensitive spot at the same time-

Brittany came intensely, crying out her release into my neck. I could feel her breath against my skin, could feel her clenching around my fingers-

"Fuck," I gasped, my own orgasm taking me by complete surprise. I'd been so focused on making Brittany come that I hadn't realized how close I was. My hips jerked sporadically against Brittany's fingers, and I struggled to breathe, my face pressed against Brittany's neck. She tilted my chin up, and then she was kissing me again, languidly, her hips still rolling against me as she shook. I was shaking, too; she pulled away slightly to rest her sweaty forehead against mine, and we laid there in each other's arms, shivering and recovering for long moments. We were so close we were breathing each other's air, and Brittany let her thumb trace over my cheek absently while I reveled in our intimacy, in her nearness.

I laughed slightly when my heart rate had slowed down a little, smiling. "I love you."

Brittany beamed at me, and I felt my heart melting, despite the fact that it was still pounding quickly. Her eyes sparkled as she said, "I love you, too."

I kissed her again, and she kissed back, and we laid there kissing each other for a while until Brittany had to transform to re-start her time limit. I sighed. I _hated_ the time limit.

Once human, she crawled back into bed with me, returning to the same position we were in, and I snuggled up to her. She stroked her fingers down my back soothingly, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

* * *

"So this may sound dumb, but… I _thought_ you guys knew where his hotel room was," I accused, clearly irritated. It was early Saturday morning, and we had been waiting down the hall from Justin Bieber's hotel room for almost three hours. I was bored out of my mind and on the path to full-blown peeved, because we were in our disguises again- which meant I was prancing around as a badly-dressed Arabian Princess from an American version of a B-grade Bollywood movie. There had not been a single peep from Justin Bieber's _supposed_ room, which was making me doubt that it was even his room, or occupied at all. Shouldn't there have been some activity coming from it within three hours? I mean, the guy was a celebrity- and he also had a concert rehearsal to go to, didn't he? Isn't that how shit worked?

"We _do_ know where it is," Mercedes said. "We followed him here last night!" Okay, that didn't sound too creepy or stalker-ish. Not at all.

"This is it," Sam reassured, but even he sounded doubtful.

"But he hasn't left it all day," Blaine said, sounding just a little frustrated. Like I could blame him. I felt that way, myself, times ten.

"Well, he _did_ party late," Arty reasoned, shrugging his shoulders.

"But he has shit to _do_," I grumbled. "He can't just sleep all day, can he?"

"He _is_ a celebrity," Quinn said.

"Yeah, uh- here's a crazy idea: did anyone check the Convention Center? Maybe he left earlier than we got here, and he's doing sound checks or something," Kurt trailed off.

It was silent for a moment while I just breathed and struggled to hold on to my patience, which was running away faster than I could-

"_Why_ do we never think these things through _beforehand_?!" I raged, throwing up my hands.

"It was an oversight," Sam mumbled.

"Every single time!" I growled. "And another thing: why do I let _you_ come up with the plans?"

"Because you don't want the responsibility," Quinn pointed out. Okay, she had made a good observation. Like _hell_ I wanted to be the leader of our sad group. Then I couldn't sit back and complain when shit went wrong, because it'd be _my_ fault. Then again, if I was in charge, shit wouldn't go wrong in the first place… oh, dilemma.

Blaine turned to Sam. "You didn't check the Convention Center?"

"That's what _you're_ for," Sam said, exasperated. "That's why I sent _you_ three," he gestured to me, Blaine, and Kurt, "to scope out the center last night."

Kurt smirked evilly, looking at me. "Oh, she definitely scoped out some _centers_-"

I stood, completely shocked. "OH, MY GOD, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING-"

"_Inside_ voices."

"Okay, but seriously, guys," Sam interrupted. "Here's what we will do- same as last night." Sam shrugged.

"Brilliant!" I said, enthused, clapping my hands politely.

Sam glared at me, but continued. "Santana, Kurt, Blaine: You three head back over to the Convention Center. If Justin is there, send Kurt back to find us." Kurt nodded. "Arty and I will stay here and watch in case, by some weird chance, he's still in his room. Quinn, Brittany, Mercedes: fly around close by. Stay within thought-speak range of each other, though. See if you can spot him."

"Aye-aye, Captain," Mercedes said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't help it.

* * *

So, Justin was at the Convention Center. That much was certain. We found his crew and his PR and every other person pertaining to him, but not _him_. Finding Justin was a lot harder than I thought, especially since the Convention Center wasn't really that big. I kind of wondered how the paparazzi managed to track him down all the time, like maybe there were some secret journalism stalking techniques I should know about. Not that I wanted to stalk anyone- but they might be helpful to me for when I'm famous and need to avoid the paparazzi.

Yeah, we're going there.

Amazingly, no one stopped us despite our weird disguises. (Kurt looked like he was auditioning for a part in Phantom of the Opera, complete with a fucking _cape_ and a white face mask, and Blaine was wearing an eye patch- like that _really_ covered his face. Amateur.) They all just assumed that we were left over from the magic show the previous night, and since we knew our way around (sort of) our confidence pretty much confirmed that we belonged there. Besides, everyone else had other shit to focus on, like getting ready for the concert. No one paid any mind to an Arabian Princess and her two pet gays.

But despite the easy access, we had zero luck hunting Bieber down, and in the end, it was _her_ voice that eventually clued us in to where he might be.

"Why the fuck is _Rachel_ here?" I hissed, a little outraged, around the corner from where she was talking to the exact person we were looking for. Like I seriously needed _more_ irritating factors contributing to this mission? Like the fact that I had to deal with Justin Bieber wasn't torturous enough, the universe decided to add more misery? Fuck my life!

"Who's Rachel?" Blaine asked curiously. I wanted to either cry with happiness at the fact that he didn't know who Rachel was, or murder him from jealousy of the fact that he didn't know who Rachel was. Lucky. _Bastard_.

"She's probably in charge of this mission," Kurt said, intentionally deepening his voice. Rachel was his friend (sort of) so we couldn't risk her recognizing his voice. "Like how Tina was in charge of the Kandrona."

"Is that some kind of a joke?" I demanded, giving Kurt a murderous glare. "Tina wasn't even _there_! And to be honest, I would've rather encountered _her_ at the Kandrona and let Rachel be the mysteriously absent one! I'd deal with Tina over Rachel any fucking day."

"We don't have to _deal_ with her. We just have to find Justin," Kurt said calmly.

"Well, we fucking found him," I grumbled. "Unfortunately, the price of finding him is a little more than I want to pay."

"Is she really that bad?" Blaine wondered.

I looked at him meaningfully.

And then Rachel's voice began to fade into the distance.

"She's leading him somewhere," Kurt said quietly. "We've got to follow them. Carefully."

"Or we could just beat Rachel unconscious. Maybe the sight of her will scare Bieber away from doing this concert," I whispered hopefully as we crept carefully around the corner. I paused. "No, if the sight of her face hasn't scared him away, I doubt the improvement my fists would make on it would."

Blaine snorted, and we continued to move sneakily down the hall and around a few more corners, following the sound of Rachel's obnoxious voice. God, did she ever stop talking? Doesn't she need to breathe? I guess breathing is only for humans, and Rachel is clearly some sub-form, like how Gollum is a degenerative version of a Hobbit-

CLICK!

The sound of a door closing snapped me out of my thoughts and we hurried to catch up to the door. It was connected to a room waaaay in the back of the Convention Center- shit, uh, we didn't find that, _oops_- and I began to panic at what might be happening behind that door. "What if she's infesting him?" I asked in a whisper, voicing our worst possible outcome for this mission.

"What if she's _not_?" Kurt shot back. "We can't just barge in there."

"But we've gotta get in there, regardless," I argued. "We won't know anything until we do." I took a deep breath. "Kurt- go get Sam and the others. I'm going mouse."

"Real subtle, Santana," Kurt muttered, but he began striding away, getting to the nearest exit door so he could make the transformation to hawk and find Sam.

I looked at Blaine. "Keep watch. Don't get recognized."

Blaine's eyes were wide as he nodded, and I closed my eyes and focused on becoming Santana the Mouse.

* * *

"Well, I'm already pretty worldwide," Justin was saying once I managed to wriggle under the door- which wasn't easy, there was like _no_ space and I had to do my best pancake impersonation to get through- and scamper to a dark corner to listen to what was going on. I relayed the dialogue back to Blaine, just so he would know what was happening. "There's not much you can offer me."

Rachel smirked arrogantly. "While I am not doubting your obvious global influence over not only youthful teenage girls but people of all ages I must respectfully point out that you don't fully grasp the extent of my organization's reach and power." I rolled my eyes. Even infested, Rachel was still Rachel. And she went on, no pauses or breath. "I will secretly admit to you that there is literally nothing on this complete planet that will bar you from the goals you want including utter immunity to age restraints." My little mouse heart froze.

This dirty bitch, playing to Justin's weaknesses! What a conniving-

"Woah," Justin said, genuinely impressed. "That's incredible. What's the catch, though?"

_You become enslaved by an alien race bent on destroying our planet and our way of life. No biggie._

"You just have to give up a little bit of your freedom," Rachel said, making it sound like giving up eating pickled pig's feet- you see what I did there?

Because, like. _No one_ eats pickled pig's feet.

Well- no one that's not fucking _disgusting_.

Well, okay, Brittany probably would. _Ugh, God, I miss her-_

"But trust me when I say to you it will be worth it."

Oh, right. This bitch is still talking.

It was quiet for a moment while Justin considered Rachel's offer. Then, he said, "Okay, then. I'm in."

Dafuq?! Oh, _shit_, I did not expect him to give in so easily. Fuck, what if Rachel wanted to infest him _now_?! I was definitely not prepared to take on the number of Hork-Bajir that were going to bust through that door if she _was_-

"Excellent. We'll take care of the final initiation tomorrow after the concert."

I breathed. Okay. That gave us time to stop this hot fucking mess. Although, agreeing to be infested, even unknowingly, for _power_ was the lowest level of sleaze. I felt sick. Is that how Rachel had convinced _Finn_ to volunteer?

I shook my head.

Justin shifted in his chair. "Initiation? You mean like _hazing_? Cuz I'm not really in to that-"

Rachel laughed. The sound hurt my sensitive mousy ears. "Oh, no, no, nothing like that. It's much more enlightening." Enlightening. _Right_. "Speaking of enlightening, I have a fun fact," Rachel continued, although I knew her fact would be anything _but_ fun. "Did you know that Snoop Dogg earned his new Rebirth name because of my organization?"

Excuse me, but. _What_?

Justin sounded as incredulous as I was. "He _did_?"

"Yes, he went on his spiritual journal at an outreach run by my organization and discovered a new level of enlightenment. He was so touched and overwhelmed that when he returned he re-named himself Snoop Lion because he felt like a new person."

Get. The fuck. Out. Was Rachel full of shit?!

"Of course, he had to give up some minor freedoms, too, but obviously, they weren't too restricting. You should ask him about it," Rachel suggested, nodding sagely.

Justin looked fucking impressed. I was still trying to figure out which orifice Rachel pulled that bullshit from, because there was just _no way_. "That's pretty wicked. Maybe I'll change my name or something like that."

Rachel chuckled. She kind of sounded like a chicken clucking. "Well, let's focus on your concert tomorrow first. Then we'll get you initiated. But anything is possible, Justin." Justin nodded, looking thoroughly pleased, and Rachel stood up to shake his hand. "Welcome to _New Directions_."

"Totally."

Okay, I'd seen enough. I scampered out of my corner towards my exit. They continued to make parting chit-chat while I subtly squeezed back under the door.

_[Ugh, I can't believe that _creep_,]_ I fumed once I was standing near Blaine and he gave me a nod that it was safe to transform. I focused on my human self, and started the change.

"I know!" Blaine exclaimed in a hushed tone. "Here we are trying to _save_ that kid, and all he cares about is himself!"

"That's the human race for ya," I said nonchalantly as I finished my transformation. It wasn't the first time I had dealt with voluntary Controllers, but it was definitely the first time I'd witnessed the Yeerks' appeal to humans to become infested voluntarily. Yeah, it was revolting- but humans generally sucked, I _knew_ that already.

Blaine, however, did not calm down.

"Well, it's _sickening_! We should just let him get infested!"

I looked at him. His face was turning red, and he was sweating, and I was wondering what the fuck was going on with him. "'Brows: take a deep breath and _calm_ yourself."

Blaine clenched his fists by his sides. "I can't be _calm_ when someone like him is snaking around, making slimy deals! It really bothers me."

I blinked. "Uh- it's not that serious." I paused. "Okay, well it _is_, but don't worry, we'll stop it." I shrugged. "Sometimes people just suck, you know? And- woah, what the fuck? What are you doing?"

Orange fur was spreading over Blaine's bare arms. A tail had sprouted from his rear and his teeth were elongated into sharp, deadly fangs. What the fuck was going on?

"I don't know! I'm transforming!" He said. At least, that's what I _think_ he said. His fangs made it come out all warbled.

I looked over my shoulder. Anyone could come around the corner; Rachel and Justin could come out of the room any second, and Blaine was growing larger, bulking up into the form of the tiger. He was going to fucking blow our cover, and we really could _not_ afford to fuck this mission up! "Well, _stop_," I hissed.

"I'm trying! I'm not-"

But I guess he lost control of his speech capabilities. He was getting closer to finishing his transformation, and it suddenly occurred to me that it was Blaine's first time in tiger form. And that I was standing next to a full-grown tiger that Blaine may or _may not_ have control of.

Fuck.

I took a few paces back- not that that would've helped, if Blaine wanted to he could've closed the gap and shredded me before I realized what was happening. Such a lovely thought.

And because the universe hates me, the door chose that moment to open, and Rachel Man-Hands stepped from the room, followed by Justin Bieber.

"What the-! Why is there a tiger?!" Bieber asked shakily, his voice raised in fear. Yes, it could go higher.

"Call security!" Rachel yelled. That was the last thing we needed, and let's face it- security was going to do _jack_ about a fucking tiger.

I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and stepped closer, so that they both noticed me. "No need," I said in a sultry, Indian accent. I took another step forward, placing my hand on Blaine's huge shoulder. He turned to look at me wildly. _Blaine, I really hope you're in there._ I glared at him. "Is _my_ tiger," I told Rachel, stroking Blaine's shoulder in fake affection. Blegh.

"Well, you shouldn't just let it walk around without some sort of leash." I barely withheld my laugh, because seriously? A _leash_ would stop a _tiger_? Even if it was strong enough, my tiny body as the anchor was _so_ not happening. Bitch, please.

"Eh, is sorry," I said with a helpless shrug. Justin tapped Rachel on the shoulder and gave her a tiny wave in parting, then disappeared down the hall and around the corner, leaving me with Rachel and Tiger Blaine. Oh, life, why you do me this way?

Rachel looked at me skeptically. "What's your name?" She demanded, and it took everything in me not to get in her face and go all Lima Heights because _who_ did this entitled bitch think she was?

Also, I didn't have a fucking _clue_ how to answer her goddamn question. Fuck.

"My name?" I repeated, slightly panicked. "Is- Jasmine."

Fuck.

Rachel raised a suspicious eyebrow. "_Jasmine_."

I nodded, a little more confident. I had already committed, so I had to go with it. "Yes. And _this_," I gestured to Blaine, who I was a thousand percent sure I was going to brutally murder later for putting me in this awful situation, "is Raja."

"Jasmine. And Raja." Rachel sounded as incredulous and unbelieving as I would have if someone had told me what I had just told her. What fucking even was I thinking?

But, honestly, bullshitting was one of my many talents, so I nodded again, firmer. Confident. "Yes."

"And what are you doing here?"

Bitch, what's with the twenty questions? Don't you have an upper lip to go shave or something? "We," I motioned to Blaine and _Myself: Arabian Princess_, "were in magic show of last night." Lies, lies, lies.

Rachel looked like she definitely didn't believe me, which proved she wasn't as dumb as the outfits she chose to squeeze herself into, and she stared hard into my eyes, making me internally panic that she might recognize me. "Do I know you?" She asked cautiously, searching my face. "You seem…. familiar."

I half-hoped Blaine would go into _notallssith_ and claw the living shit out of her, but no such luck. I decided if I wanted to get out of this situation, I had to play by Rachel's rules. Extravagant _drama_.

"How can you know me, when you not know… _yourself_?" I said in a slow, mysterious voice, giving a wide flourish of my hand.

Rachel looked surprised. I _guess_. I tried not to make eye contact, just in case she turned me to stone. "What do you mean?" Her voice was full of curiosity and I kind of wanted to roll my eyes.

"You are like a-" I searched, "_diamond_. A diamond- in the _rough_." I mentally smacked myself. Oh, way to fucking go. But Rachel's eyes sparkled and she seemed to eat the shit I just spewed up, nodding her agreement excitedly.

"A diamond? That's new. I'm usually likened to a shooting gold star," (what, did she do heroin now, too?) "but I suppose in whatever country you hail from a diamond is the equivalent."

Excuse me?!

I ignored her blatantly offensive remark and nodded wisely, keeping up my mysterious act and trying to seem like I was some type of seer. "Yes, both shine bright," I reached. Beside me, Blaine snorted. I guess that was his way of laughing as a tiger. Okay, I needed to stop. Seriously. I wasn't going to be able to hold character for much longer if I kept saying shit like-

"I am, aren't I?" Rachel said, misty-eyed. "Thank you. It means so much for a stranger to recognize my greatness. You probably already know this but I am quite the young ingénue, and having someone as obviously skilled and wizened as you see my talent for what it is-"

_No, don't smack her-_

"I must go," I interrupted, holding up my hand to silence her, although I really reconsidered my _don't smack her_ mantra because I felt my hand would be put to better use. "Nice greeting you." I turned away, and thankfully Blaine came along with me, and just for dramatic effect, when I got a few paces away I turned and said, "Shine bright like a diamond."

Rachel wiped away a tear.

Blaine and I hurried away quickly. We had to meet up with Sam and the others and come up with a way to stop Justin from getting infested after the concert tomorrow night. We had to figure out what we were going to do about Rachel- if anything.

And I had to find out why Blaine had transformed into a tiger when he clearly hadn't wanted to.

* * *

**Whew! What could be wrong with Blaine? Any guesses? LOL well besides all you _Animorphs_ fans out there, of course! :P hahaha**

**Snoop Lion does not belong to me, although I mentioned him because of the many puns involved. If you haven't seen the fake _Animorphs_ book-cover where he's turning into a lion, then you CLEARLY HAVE NOT LIVED. LOLOLOL.**

**Know what else doesn't belong to me? _Aladdin._ :B**

**Also, I'm sorry if some of you out there are Bieber fans. I chose Bieber because- uh- _Glee_ did.**

**Okay, so, review if you feel like telling me your thoughts. But if you don't have any, then I guess there's nothing to tell. You guys are awesome!**

**See you soon (hopefully!) :D**


	26. Fever

**Remember when the Brittana fandom got good news?**

**Yeah, me either. .-.**

**No worries, though, I ain't even mad. _Glee_ can go kill itself, but I'mma keep writing fanfiction and shipping Brittana and flailing over their epic love. :)**

**As I say every time, thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, followed, lurked, sent me messages, or just plain ol' skimmed this story. I appreciate you all! :D**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

_[You want to tell me what the fuck that was all about_?] I demanded once Blaine and I were safely in bird form, flying back towards the Hilton.

_[I don't know. I just got really angry and upset, and the next thing I knew, I was changing into the tiger,]_ Blaine admitted_. [I tried to stop, but I couldn't. I just kept changing. Does that usually happen?]_

_[Not that I know of,]_ I said angrily, still pissed off that I had had to deal with Rachel and that awkward situation. If I never wore another sparkly red veil it would be too soon. Just then, I spotted Kurt returning with the others, all as birds, and I sighed. _[Look- let's keep that last part- the part about you turning into the tiger- to ourselves. I'll talk to Brittany and see if what happened is normal. Maybe it's like a side-effect or something, I dunno.]_

_[Okay,]_ Blaine said in a tiny voice. _[Thanks.]_

_[What's going on?]_ Sam demanded, swooping past me in his pigeon form and tilting his wings to make a sharp turn, doubling back as I kept right on flying towards the hotel. The others did various versions of turns to change direction, and Brittany's duck sidled up near me in the air, making me feel calmer about what had just transpired back at the Convention Center. I took a deep breath. We made it. _I_ made it. Barely- but I slipped past Rachel without raising the Yeerks' defenses. Small miracle.

_[Yeah, I thought you found Bieber,]_ Quinn stated, bringing my attention back to the conversation at hand. Or at wing, I guess, since we were birds. Har har.

_[We did,]_ Kurt said.

_[And guess who _else_ we found?]_ I grumbled.

_[Kurt told us,]_ Mercedes said quietly.

_[So what happened?] _Arty asked.

_[We can discuss it when we get back to the hotel,]_ I said.

_[What?]_ Sam asked worriedly_. [But what if-]_

_[They won't,]_ Blaine said, cutting Sam off before he could go into full-on Panic Mode_. [They're saving it for after the concert tomorrow.]_

_[We'll explain back at the hotel,] _I repeated, exasperated.

We flew the rest of the way in silence, and once we were finally all back at Sam and Kurt's hotel room and back to our human forms, Blaine and I explained what had happened with Justin Bieber in the private room after Kurt left us. We conveniently left out the part where Blaine involuntarily changed into a tiger and left me to deal with Rachel and the awkward situation on my own. The less Sam knew, the less he could freak out and make plans about shit. It was just that one time, and we had handled it okay. I'm sure whatever had happened was just a fluke. Or maybe Blaine was just too new to transforming and hadn't realized he'd been focused on becoming the tiger. I doubted he _actually_ lost control. Either way, Blaine was aware of the situation and would be better prepared to handle transforming in the future. Right?

Boy, was I wrong.

* * *

Sam let us leave with Sunday's plan in our mind. The concert was at 6pm, so we had plenty of time to get some rest before the main event. We made a tentative plan that pretty much mirrored our plan from the political convention to save the Governor a few months prior, with only a few changes- instead of trying to warn Biebs, we were just going to scare him shitless, hopefully resulting in his immediate departure. We just had to _stop_ the Yeerks from infesting him. The Yeerks weren't so widespread that they had Yeerk Pools in every city- at least, that's what Sugs reassured us- so if Bieber left the city without becoming infested, it was unlikely the Yeerks would pursue him to another state on his tour schedule. However, if they got a hold of him, they could use his resources and influence to spread to other cities. He would have teenagers rushing in line to become part of his secret Fan Club, to become Controllers. It would be a total disaster and a huge loss for us, which is why we were willing to get a little drastic and crazy with this mission.

Unfortunately, that also meant the Yeerks probably would, too.

After our irresolute plans were made and Sam went over them a million and a half times, we were free for the rest of the evening. It was early, and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the rest of the evening hanging out in the Hilton hotel. Unfortunately, the only clothes I had to wear were my Arabian Nights disguise and the clothes I had chosen to transform in- jeans, sneakers, and a sweater. Clothes for comfort and warmth, but not exactly for hitting the town. And I'm sure Brittany had even less. I sighed. I really wanted to take Brittany out. I had the perfect place in mind, too. My parents had taken me before the Alanis concert, and it had been fun. Clothes could always be purchased- it was still early, and there was probably a clothing store nearby.

I just had to get Sugar's credit card from Quinn.

* * *

"Yo, I need the CC," I said as I entered Quinn and Mercedes' room.

"Yo?" Mercedes repeated, raising her eyebrow questioningly at me as I strolled right by her. Quinn was lying on her back on her bed, propped up against the pillows and dressed in her pajamas, reading a book. At 5pm. What an absolute lame-ass.

"What for?" Quinn asked disinterestedly, not bothering to make eye contact with me. She kept her attention on the book and blithely turned the page. Mercedes came and sat on the edge of her own bed next to Quinn's.

"Not your concern," I said with a shrug.

"Not your credit card," she fired back.

I bit my tongue for a moment, recognizing the seriousness in Quinn's tone. She wasn't giving that card up unless she knew what it was for. I sighed irritably. "Oh, fine. I- I'm taking Brittany out," I admitted, a little embarrassed. Mercedes smiled and I felt my cheeks heating up. Ugh.

Quinn finally lifted her eyes from her book and scanned me apathetically. "Wearing _that_?"

I crossed my arms in defense and rolled my eyes. "Well, obviously we would stop and get some clothes first."

"Ugh. _Really_, Santana?" Mercedes asked disapprovingly, shaking her head.

"Look, I'll return them after we're done-"

"I don't care," Quinn shrugged, sitting up and setting her book down after marking her page. She stood up, stretching her arms over her head, and walked across the room to the dresser. She opened the second drawer and pulled out the small camouflage pack she'd brought, unzipped the tiny pouch on the side, and whipped out the glittery, black square of plastic. "It's not my money." She handed me the credit card, and I took it cautiously in disbelief, half-expecting Quinn to attack me once it was in my possession.

"I can't believe you," Mercedes muttered from the bed, still shaking her head.

I shrugged, too. "You don't have to. I'm still going." I looked at Quinn, who was smirking at me, and I grinned back, rolling my eyes playfully at her. "Thanks," I said. "I guess I should let you get back to being a geriatric-"

Quinn shoved me. "Don't make me regret giving you that thing."

"I still can't believe that you did," Mercedes interjected.

"Cool it, Wheezy," I said casually, tucking the card safely into my pocket just in case Quinn did change her mind. I'd fought Quinn before- it was kind of a Besties Rite of Passage- and I didn't really want to do it again. "You know, if Sam wasn't such a killjoy I'd invite you two along, but-"

"I'll bring Kurt, then," Mercedes said quickly. Her expression was hopeful and I inwardly cringed. What the fuck did I even just say?

"Oh, gross, no way," I said, shaking my head in disgust. "Because he's going to bring Blaine, and I'm sorry, but I can _not_ handle the two of them ice skating and making those goopy, nauseating eyes at each other."

"You're taking Brittany ice skating?" Quinn laughed.

I gave her a glare- what the fuck was so funny? "Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. The rink here is actually quite good."

"And Brittany's okay with that?" Quinn demanded, raising her eyebrow at me in challenge. "She's barely competent walking on only two legs, and you want to put her on ice?"

I felt my face heating up in embarrassment. "She doesn't know, and okay, so I didn't exactly think that part through, all right? But Britts is smart and adaptive and I have no doubt that she will be able to master ice skating," I said confidently.

Quinn rolled her eyes at me, but she was smiling. "Okay."

"Okay."

"So go, then."

"I will."

"And have fun."

"I _will_."

"And make sure you're home in time to get enough sleep for tomorrow-"

"Oh my _God_, who _are_ you- _Sam_? I _will_. Now go back to bed, Grandma."

* * *

I found Brittany by the vending machine in our hall. Although, unlike normal vending machines, which carried, like, garbage food and stuff, this one looked like some kind of futuristic robot and had things I would never be able to afford. It was illuminated by neon purple lights, and had high-ticket items, books, and foods I had never even heard of, nor knew what they actually were.

Brittany was so intrigued studying the merchandise that she didn't notice when I crept up behind her and slid my arms around her waist, pulling her back into me.

"Hey," I breathed into her neck before I pressed a light kiss there. She relaxed in my embrace and let her hands rest on top of mine, which were on her stomach. I nuzzled into her neck, breathing in her smell and feeling the warmth of her skin.

"Hi," Brittany said softly. "What are condoms?"

I stopped nuzzling her and blinked. The _fuck_ did she just ask? I lifted my head up and saw where she was pointing at the vending machine. I guess even rich people had to get their mack on- and needed to purchase luxury condoms. _Luxury_ _condoms_. Was I reading that right? I squinted at the vending machine.

"-packages are brightly colored and some of them have pictures of various fruits on them, so I was just wondering-"

"Britt," I mumbled into her shoulder, embarrassed, hiding my face against her. I could feel my cheeks warming. How was I even going to explain… okay, no. Time to change the subject. Right. "I'm taking you out."

Brittany tensed in my arms. I hoped it was with excitement. She turned abruptly, her eyes shining, and I felt a little relieved at her reaction. "Really?" She asked enthusiastically, and she pressed an eager kiss to my nose when I nodded in response.

"Mm-hm. Let's go back to our room because we have to fly to the mall first to get some clothes, okay?"

"Okay!" Brittany grabbed my hand eagerly and I couldn't help but grin as I led her back down the hall to our room. Once we were inside, I changed into my Arabian Nights costume for the last time. Look, just because Brittany could transform and keep two or three full outfits somewhere in transformation space (like I fucking know how that worked) didn't mean that I could. I would have to leave whatever clothes I was wearing at the mall to change into the ones I was going to buy, and I sure as hell wasn't going to leave my _own_ clothes when I could be rid of Princess Jasmine for good.

Brittany watched me change with a confused expression on her face, and I explained to her why I was changing. Her eyes lit up with amusement and I couldn't help the lame, cheesy thud of my heart in response to making her so happy.

Once I was decked out to look like I was ready to start charming a snake or telling someone's fortune via crystal ball, I slid open the door to the balcony but kept the blinds and curtains closed, then focused on my transformation to Mississippi Kite, shrinking rapidly. Brittany stood and watched me transform, and it made me a little nervous- I mean, she was so good at it, such an expert, that I wondered if she noticed things about my transformation that sucked. Did it even work that way? I mean, I knew that I could get better at it- the fact that I could transform with shoes and a jacket now only proved that- but I didn't know if there was a certain technique that I could learn that could make it smoother, make it look better or something. But I did know I would never be as good as Brittany at it. She made it look beautiful.

There I go, being all clichéd again. Get over it; I really can't help it sometimes. Brittany's just so- _Brittany_.

When I was fully bird, I looked up at Brittany, blinking. My laser-focused eyesight let me see every freckle on her face, each individual eyelash, every speck of gold in her endless blue eyes. She crouched down, studying me, and before I could react, she reached out and stroked the top of my head, her fingers pressing gently over the soft, light gray feathers there. I was surprised at how nice it felt. I mean, it didn't make me want to get petted constantly, but it wasn't unpleasant as a bird. Some weird squeaky purr-chirp rumbled up from my throat in response, and I flapped my wing in surprise. I definitely wasn't expecting a vocal response to her action. Brittany giggled above me, and, still crouching, swiftly and effortlessly changed into her mallard. My intense gaze watched each feather sprout from her skin, but the process only lasted ten seconds at most.

Once she was done, I led the way to the balcony, walking carefully on my talons. I was getting better at it, thanks to the night before. Brittany waddled behind me, holding the credit card in her flat-billed mouth. She made a tiny quack from her throat and I turned my head to look at her. Her golden duck eyes seemed to be gazing at me playfully, and I shook my head, then pushed through the curtains separating the room from the balcony.

Outside, it was really chilly, and the kite was not pleased. Brittany ruffled up her feathers, obviously not digging the cold weather, either. I swallowed. Maybe this was a bad idea. But another quick glance at Brittany, and the almost tangible enthusiasm pouring off of her in waves, and I spread my wings and took off into the air.

* * *

"Britt, that goes on your ears," I giggled, tugging the pair of fuzzy earmuffs from where she was holding them up to her chest. Yep- like a bra.

"I thought it was rather revealing for humans, although, I'm certain they would keep my breasts warm," Brittany said seriously.

I shook my head, an easy grin on my face, and gently fixed the earmuffs correctly over her head.

Brittany placed her hands over mine on her covered ears, scrunching up her nose. "This is not conducive to proper hearing," she said. "I think I prefer the hat."

I nodded, grabbing the furry, blue lumberjack hat from the table nearby and replacing the earmuffs with it. I had to admit it looked adorable on her, and Brittany nodded with satisfaction. "This hat is like my other hat. I like that hat. I like it a lot."

"I'm glad, Britt." I tapped her nose with my pointer finger, and she beamed at me, then lunged forward and gave me a quick peck on the lips.

"Sorry," she said, looking guilty as she pulled away. "I just-"

I grabbed the collar of her jacket and pulled her in close to me, then rolled up to my toes to kiss her properly, right in the middle of the store (like I cared.) Brittany's arms slid around me, and when we finally pulled back and rested our foreheads together, she traced a random circle on my bare lower back (yes- I was still an Arabian Princess, no- I don't know why I didn't go shopping first) her cheeks turning pink.

"I love you," I whispered, cupping her chin and stroking my thumb over her bottom lip. I licked my lips absently as my gaze fell to hers. I wanted nothing more than to suck her bottom lip, to tug on it with my teeth, to swipe my tongue over it-

A loud cough interrupted my hazy thoughts and I blinked, noticing an old, gray-headed woman bent over an underwear display, glaring at us. Oh. Right. We were in a store. I swallowed, trying to calm myself down- there'd be plenty of time for that later. Reluctantly, I let go of Brittany, who was looking about as hungry for my lips as I was for hers, and turned to pick up the rest of the clothes we were getting. It was just winter stuff- leggings for Brittany to wear under her jeans, thick socks, gloves, a scarf, a hat, a sweater, and a jacket. I didn't know how cold it got in Andalite World- so I didn't know how resilient Brittany was to chill. But I wanted her to be as warm as possible.

Once I was satisfied with Brittany's winter wear, I began browsing for my own clothes. My style was obviously different from Brittany's, but I bought matching gloves in a different color, just because, I admit, I'm a sucker, okay? Searching for my own clothes went a lot faster. I was a professional, and I methodically went through the racks, zeroing in on articles that didn't make me want to throw up.

Brittany shuffled along behind me, looking flawless. She absent-mindedly caressed and touched every piece of fabric we passed as I hunted for the final piece to my outfit- a faux fur-accented jacket. As I stepped to examine the front of it, I felt a presence beside me, and a shadow fall over the jacket in my hands.

I turned to look at the man, raising a disbelieving eyebrow. "Can I help you?" I asked.

The man smirked. "Oh, yeah, you can," he said, staring at my body appreciatively, and I took a moment to actually take in the sleazebag's appearance. He had a mullet, and the kid was a ginger. Oh, hell to the no, I was not getting hit on by Ronald Fucking Weasley. I frowned deeply, not even bothering to hide the repulsed look on my face. "The name's Rick."

"I didn't ask," I snapped. "But now that you've got that off your chest, feel free to leave."

But Ron didn't get it. He continued to leer, smiling at me in a way that made me feel creeped the fuck out, and also made me want to beat the shit out of him. It also made me remember that I was still an Arabian Princess. Oh, fucking fuck my life.

Ron's eyes fell to my cleavage, and I felt my anger growing as he blatantly stared at my tits. _Really_, dude? I was about to tell him off but then he opened his fat, stupid mouth. "Your body is like a temple."

"Sorry, there are no services today," I snapped. "So I'd really appreciate you finding a new place to worship."

Ron glared at me. "What the fuck is your problem?"

"Right now?" I asked sweetly. "You."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Whatever, bitch," he mumbled as he turned away.

"What did you call her?" Brittany demanded, suddenly at my side. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Oh, shit. The last time I'd heard that tone in Brittany's voice was when she was fighting Dafydd-

"Why do you care?" Ron sneered. "What are you, her _girlfriend_ or something?"

Brittany's eyes darted quickly, hesitantly to mine, as if asking if she _was_ my girlfriend. I swallowed as our eyes met. We had never actually _stated_ that we were official or anything. We had never really _needed_ a label before. At least, _I_ hadn't. And I had always just assumed that Brittany-

Brittany's eyes killed me. They were so hopeful, but the longer I waited to answer-

"Yeah," I said, finding my voice as I slid my hand into Brittany's, my eyes never leaving hers (fuck Ronald Weasley, he didn't even deserve my eye contact,) as I said with more confidence, "yeah, she is."

Ron scoffed, his face twisting up into an expression of disgust. "You're sick. You obviously just need a _real_ man to show you what you're missing out on-"

THWACK!

The sound of Brittany's fist hitting Ron's face startled me, and Ron staggered back, looking as shocked as I was.

"Don't you _dare_ talk to my girlfriend like that," Brittany seethed, advancing on him, her fist raised and ready to hit him again. I felt my heart leap at her protectiveness, at how chivalrous she was, coming to my rescue, even if I didn't _need_ it-

"You bitch," Ron snarled, clutching his cheek.

"_Excuse_ me?" I demanded, stepping forward next to Brittany. I raised my own fist, prepared to punch him on the good side- okay, well, honestly, he was ugly as sin so he didn't exactly have a _good_ side; we'll just call it his _yet undamaged_ side- of his face. "Do you wanna run that by me one more time? Or do you wanna walk the fuck away and live to be a _douchebag_ another day? 'Cause I have _razorblades_ hidden in my hair," I snarled, waving my hand wildly over my head to indicate. "Just, _all_ up in there."

"You two are fucking _crazy_," Ron spat, backing away. He turned quickly and left the store, and I smirked for a minute before I realized Brittany hadn't taken her eyes off of me.

I caught her gaze, biting my lip. "You were so _hot_," I said, giving her a sexy smile. I played with the collar of her jacket mindlessly, not taking my eyes off of her pink lips. Oh, my God, I wanted to-

"I'm your girlfriend," Brittany breathed, her face stretching into a grin, and before I could respond, her lips were on mine and she was kissing me deeply again. I wrapped my arms around her neck, still holding the jacket I was going to buy, and felt her smiling against my lips, then, still kissing me, she leaned back, lifting me just slightly off my feet, and spun. We both giggled, and another loud, ragged cough interrupted our moment again.

I looked. It was that same old crotchety bitch from before.

"Do you have a cold or something?" I demanded.

"Are you going to buy that?" she croaked in return. Woah, bitch, time to lay off the cigarettes. She glared at us and indicated the jacket in my hand, and I reluctantly let my arms drop from Brittany's shoulders.

"Yeah, actually," I retorted, straightening my slinky, red top. I paused, grabbed Brittany's hand in mine to interlace our fingers, and led her over to the cash register to pay for my jacket. Once the transaction was complete, I looked at her. "Let's get out of here, because I am a thousand percent done with this ridiculous fucking outfit."

Brittany just smiled at me.

* * *

After we changed, I took Brittany to dinner, because I knew we were both hungry. We spent the entire time making sickening love-eyes at each other and I ain't even ashamed about it. I held her hand across the table, because after our encounter with Ron Weasley, I was prouder than ever to have Brittany as my official girlfriend and I honestly had zero fucks left to give about what anyone thought about it. I hadn't been hiding Brittany for a long time, but we rarely got the chance to go out together. We could probably die any day, any mission, any moment- a fact that never really left me alone, that plagued me constantly- but I definitely wasn't going to go down without Brittany knowing how honored I was to be hers.

Brittany ate her food, but I couldn't even tell you what she ordered because I was far too busy gazing at her eyes and feeling intoxicated from the overwhelming happiness that was coursing through me. I was so giddy that I didn't even think about the mission coming up the next day, or the Yeerks, or the others, or anything except for how Brittany's eyes sparkled under the lights over our booth, how her warm fingers felt laced with mine, how her foot brushed against my foot under our table, and _God_, Twitter update: it had happened; I _officially _transformed into a marshmallow.

"Where are we going now?" Brittany asked curiously as we left the restaurant and strolled down the street. The ice skating rink was only two blocks over. "I thought dinner was where you were taking me."

"Dinner was a side thought," I confessed, grinning like an idiot at Brittany, who was scrunching her nose and just looking adorable and _perfect_ in her lumberjack hat. Ugh. Can you get a heart attack from loving too much?

"There's more?" Brittany asked in a captivated voice.

I squeezed her hand and nodded. "We're almost there."

But.

I should've known our night was too good to be true, because when we got to the ice skating rink and were waiting in line to pay, someone tapped me on the shoulder.

It was Kurt. With _Blaine_.

_And_ Quinn.

_And Mercedes._

I groaned.

"Hi," Brittany said warmly, smiling at everyone as they came to stand behind us in line. "Are you part of our date, too?"

"No, Britt," I said through my teeth. "They decided to _crash_ our date because they all _fucking hate me_."

Blaine came up next to me and slid his arm around my shoulders. "Now, Santana, you know that's not true," he chided. I resisted the urge to rip his arm off and beat him to death with it.

"Please remove your arm if you want to keep it attached to your body."

Miffed, Blaine let his arm drop from my shoulders, his smile faltering only slightly. The line moved forward a person. I contemplated grabbing Brittany and going somewhere else for the rest of the night.

"I feel bad leaving Sam and Arty back at the hotel," Mercedes confessed.

"I don't," I muttered. At least Sam and Arty weren't here, too. I breathed a very small sigh of relief.

"We didn't even tell them we were leaving," Wheezy continued.

"They'll be okay," Quinn reassured.

"Yeah, they're probably watching _Star Wars_-themed porn and having a circle jerk or something," I said with a sarcastic roll of my eyes.

"San, that's gross," Brittany deadpanned, and I'm not sure what she was commenting on because the only part of my sentence I was fairly certain she understood was _porn_. Thanks, Puck.

"Is it a circle if there's only two people?" Blaine wondered thoughtfully.

"Does it matter?" Quinn asked.

"_Star Wars_ porn _exists_?" Kurt asked.

"Oh, my God. Kill me now," I begged to no one in particular. Brittany squeezed my hand, letting her cold nose nudge my cheek.

"I'd miss you too much if they did," she said like a secret against my cheek before planting a kiss there. I couldn't help the dopey smile that came to my face and stayed there- even when Kurt and Mercedes started arguing about Beyonce's best music video.

* * *

Once I bought everyone's tickets and skates with Sugar's credit card, I helped Brittany put hers on, kneeling down in front of her and trying not to get my pants soaked from the wet patches of melted ice.

"What is this place?" Brittany wondered, looking around the brightly-lit lobby. Her eyes scanned the concession stand, which had a huge rotating hot dog display, a large glass popcorn machine, and cotton candy. The menu board was highlighted in blinking lights and was digitalized, which was a little impressive.

"It's a skating rink," I told her as I laced up her skates, tightening them firmly as I went. "There's a big floor of ice past that door," I gestured, not really sure what else to say. "You put skates on, and then you can glide on the ice."

"And humans do this for fun?" She asked lightly as I finished tying up her skates, giving them a small tug to ensure they were secured to her feet.

"Yeah," I admitted, feeling a little lame, that maybe Brittany _wouldn't_ think ice skating was fun. But as I glanced at her face for signs of disapproval, I found instead that she seemed really enthused. She placed her hand on my shoulder and tried to stand up.

"Let's go!" She said, but then she lost her balance and collapsed back to the bench, looking down at her feet to inspect her skates more closely. I laughed slightly, touching her hand.

"Not yet. I've got to put _my_ skates on, and there are some things you need to know before we go out there," I said. I explained the basic concept of skating to her while I put on my skates, then helped Brittany to her feet. She wobbled a lot at first, and held almost painfully tight to my arm as I instructed her in how to walk in skates while I led her through the doors and to the ice.

Quinn was already out there, doing a few warm-up laps. Kurt and Blaine were at the entrance, acting like little five-year-olds who'd never been skating before. Maybe they hadn't. But I didn't care. This was my date and they were intruding on it, so I definitely did not have any tolerance for five-year-olds.

"Hey, honeys? Can you move it the fuck along? My _girlfriend, _Brittany, here, would like to use the ice some time on _our_ date," I snapped as I waited impatiently for them to grow the balls they needed to make the push out onto the ice.

Kurt gave me a look over his shoulder at the word _girlfriend_, and I just quirked an eyebrow at him, challenging him to say something. Lucky for him, he decided against it and instead moved his ass out onto the ice. Blaine followed suit and soon after I was helping Brittany on.

Since I had already told her what to expect, she was prepared for the sudden slip when her skate hit the ice, but she still tightened her grip on my arm, and I giggled at her intermittently as we made our first slow, unsteady lap around the ice. Quinn skated by us backwards, showing out like the bitch she is, but by our third lap, Brittany felt confident enough to skate on her own, though she still held my hand.

I didn't mind. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

By her seventh lap, Brittany was actually looking really good. She'd found her natural rhythm, and figured out the mechanics of the skates- how to turn, how to stop, how to speed up or slow down- and so I picked up our speed a little. She kept pace with me, and I was genuinely impressed by how fast she'd learned how to skate- but then again, I had told Quinn exactly that, hadn't I? That I knew she would master it?

When we skated by Quinn again, I subtly gave her the middle finger and smirked, and she returned it, nodding her approval at Brittany's skating. The loud pop music that was blaring through the speakers above us wasn't the most ideal, but the lights were down low, Brittany's gloved hand was warm in mine, and so was my heart- okay, no, I'm sorry, I can't go that soft. I just can't.

Anyways, after a while, we left the ice so that I could buy Brittany hot chocolate, and she closed her eyes and savored the taste, holding the warm cup between both her hands, breathing in the steam. I watched her like a creep, completely enchanted with how beautiful she was- in every single way. I was so in love. So in love with my _girlfriend_.

I leaned forward and kissed her cheek, and her eyes snapped open. She looked at me, her nose rubbing against mine, and she had a playful smile on her lips. "I'm your girlfriend," She whispered, nudging my nose with her nose teasingly, and I wondered again how she could always just know what I was thinking.

"You're my girlfriend," I repeated, my smile growing wider. She brushed her lips against mine, giving me the sweetest, barest kiss, and I shivered, feeling too much and unsure how to handle it all. It was overwhelming.

After our hot chocolate, we skated for a few more songs. At one point we skated by Klaine- catchy, isn't it?- and witnessed Blaine skating backwards, his arms outreached to Kurt and holding his hands. And, no, it gets better- he was _singing_. Like, some Katy Perry song that was playing. I tried to hold in my laugh but I just couldn't, because, come _on_, how lame can you get?

Brittany and I skated by them, laughing loudly, and Blaine stopped singing to shoot me a disapproving glare, but I just shrugged. "I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in _public_."

"Go away, Santana," Kurt said.

"Oh, not so happy when it's _Santittany_ crashing _your_ date, is it?" I retorted. Santitanny. Hmm. I'd have to sleep on it, I guess.

"It's not a date," Blaine admitted sheepishly, averting his eyes.

"Right," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, we're about to call it a night." I wrapped my arm around Brittany's waist, and she skillfully didn't break stride as she suddenly began skating a lot closer to me. I couldn't help smiling- My girl's a natural at everything she does. "The place is about to close, anyway."

"Yeah, it _is_ getting late," Blaine agreed, nodding.

Quinn skated up beside us with Mercedes right behind her. "You guys ready to go? I think they're about to close up shop."

"Yeah, we were just discussing that," Kurt said lightly. "See you guys back at home?"

Mercedes nodded. "Be careful."

* * *

I had no intention of seeing any of the others when we got back to the hotel. It was our last night staying at the Hilton and I definitely didn't want to waste it playing _Yahtzee_ or something equally as lame with them- we'd be doing that soon enough back at the _Batcave_. Besides, I'd already spent more time with them than I would have liked during the night, since they decided to invite themselves along on my date with Brittany. Jerks.

When Brittany and I finally made it back to our room, she closed the door, pulling her hat from her head and nervously playing with it between her hands. I regarded her carefully- she was breath-taking- and then our eyes met, sending a jolt of arousal and electricity pulsing through my body. I licked my lips before I moved forward slowly, tilting my head up to kiss her, her mouth opening against mine instantly and deepening it. I moaned softly at the feel of her tongue against mine as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in tight to her body. I let my hands slide across her stomach and around under her jacket, feeling the warmth emanating from her skin, even through her sweater. She held me impossibly closer, kissing me harder, her tongue slipping against mine and her teeth grazing my lower lip every so often.

We pressed back against the door, and her jean-clad thigh slipped between my legs, putting pressure where I needed it. My hips bucked against her in response, and I pulled away to catch my breath, because I was already panting. Brittany was struggling to breathe, too, but she moved to suck on my neck, her ragged, hot breaths against my skin sending shivers down my spine.

I felt overwhelmed- Brittany had always technically been my girlfriend, I guess, I just never acknowledged the label, had never been interested in labeling us. I had never really seen Brittany as _just_ my girlfriend. She was my best friend, my soulmate, my- well, my _everything_. She'd been everything since the day that I'd met her. But I couldn't tell fuck nuggets like Ron that, so girlfriend would have to do.

I pulled back slightly to gaze into Brittany's dark, ravenous eyes. I pressed my slightly open mouth to hers, sucking her bottom lip briefly, before I carefully dropped to my knees on the carpet in front of her, watching her eyes grow wider. I pushed her sweater up, baring her tense stomach, and pressed my lips to her hot skin. I slid my hands around to cup her ass, and kissed across her stomach, sliding my tongue out to tease along the waistband of her jeans while she moaned above me.

I smirked against her skin, then reached to unbutton her pants. I tugged the zipper down slowly, revealing her unicorn underwear- I giggled to myself a little- and then pressed another kiss to one of the unicorns in the center, hearing her loud gasp. One of her hands slid to my hair, and I knew she knew what I was about to do- I'm sure she'd seen it in the magazine Puck had given her. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and instead focused on the feeling of being surrounded in Brittany- her smell, her heat, her fingers in my hair-

"S-San," she choked, her hand gripping my head tighter. "You don't have to-"

"I want to," I said, looking up at her dark eyes, her parted lips, her pink-stained cheeks. "I want to give you- _everything_."

A tremor ran through her body- I felt it beneath my hands, and she audibly swallowed. "I- d-don't think I can _stand_-"

I smirked at her. "You will." My expression softened, and I reached up to press her hand back into my hair. "Just hold onto me, B."

She nodded, biting her lip, and I leaned forward once more and kissed the dip between her thigh and her abdomen, maintaining eye contact until her eyes slammed closed. Her leg trembled beneath my lips and her hand tightened in my hair again. "Relax," I breathed against her skin, kissing lower. I hooked my finger into her underwear, closing my eyes, lost in the moment, lost in _Brittany_.

"O-okay-"

CRASH!

_[SANTANA!]_

BANG! THUMP! THUMP!

_[SANTANA!]_

My eyes snapped open.

Moment over.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" I growled against Brittany's thigh.

I heard what sounded like shattering glass and I stood up from the carpet, rage slowly overtaking the arousal in my blood. What the fuck was going on? And why did it always have to happen when I was trying to get sexy with Brittany? Fuck this fucking hotel!

Brittany reached to pull her pants up, and I gave her an apologetic look before I ripped the door open, stuck my head out and glared down the hall.

Tiger Blaine turned to look at me pleadingly.

"Oh, fuck," I groaned.

* * *

"¡Volver, tigre del Diablo!" An intoxicated man was screaming.

SMASH!

And chucking things out of his hotel room- at Blaine- who was doing his best to avoid them.

"¡_Volver_!"

I watched the scene in enraged disbelief, blinking. This could not be happening. This wasn't my life.

_[Santana! A little help, here?!]_ Blaine pleaded, narrowly avoiding a lamp, that flew past his left pointed ear and hit the opposite wall, smashing into large ceramic shards. I shook my head and snapped into action, briefly wondering why no one else had exited their hotel rooms to see what was going on. It's not like this guy was _subtle_.

"[Okay, okay, calm down, Count Boozy Von Drunk-a-Ton,]" I snapped to the man in Spanish as I stepped between him and Blaine. Boozy paused long enough to look at me. Damn, he had nice teeth. Like, _really_ nice teeth.

"[That's a tiger!]" He stated stupidly in Spanish, and I thought- _well, duh_. He staggered a step closer and pointed dramatically at Blaine. "[Get out! You don't belong here!]"

I turned to look at Blaine over my shoulder, glaring at him and trying to convey just how much I loathed his existence for putting me in the middle of yet _another_ awkward situation. He recoiled from me, and I turned back to the completely sloshed man who was wobbling on his feet. "[I have some advice for you,]" I told him pointedly. I gestured to his hotel room door, which was still wide open. "[Go back inside and forget you saw anything.]"

Count Boozy looked at me like I was nuts. He took a step back, and for a minute I thought he was going to follow my advice. But then Blaine took a hesitant step away, towards my room- towards _me_- and the guy quickly snatched up a DVD player that was lying in the hall (I guess he had thrown it at Blaine earlier) and rushed to attack him with it.

Blaine held up his striped arm to block the swing of the DVD player, and it connected with a loud thud. _[Ow!]_ He cried, and Boozy looked wildly around.

"[Who said that?!]" He demanded.

"[Go back _inside_!]" I yelled at him. He ignored me, however, and lifted the DVD player to swing at Blaine again. Hell the fuck no- I'd decided I'd had enough. I was irate in several ways, and I was _so_ over dealing with Tiger Blaine's problems. I picked up the closest thing to my feet- a _Holy Bible_- and advanced on Boozy. I swung hard, cracking him in the back of the head with the spine of the sacred book, and he dropped like a rock.

"You've just been touched by Jesus," I told Boozy sassily, panting and standing over his unconscious form. I glared pointedly at Blaine, who lowered his head and padded towards my room with his tail between his legs. Brittany was standing in the doorway, holding the door open, and Blaine slinked inside while I positioned Boozy so that if he threw up he wouldn't choke and die. The man was pretty intoxicated, after all, and I wasn't completely heartless. Let's face it- we've _all_ been that drunk.

Once I was satisfied Count Boozy wasn't going to asphyxiate himself with his own vomit, I followed Blaine back into my hotel room, completely incredulous that no one- not Sam, not Quinn, not Arty- had bothered to emerge from their hotel rooms. What the fucking fuck? I mean, Quinn was a heavy sleeper, but-

_[Oh no,]_ Blaine moaned, pacing back and forth around my bed, his tail flicking behind him. _[What if that guy was a Controller? He _saw_ me-]_

"He's _not_ a Controller," I snapped, crossing my arms and standing intimidatingly at the foot of my bed while Blaine continued to circle around the room, anxious as fuck. Brittany sat on the bed beside me.

_[How do you know?]_ Blaine demanded wildly.

I shrugged. "He didn't yell _Andalite _at you."

Blaine blinked. _[_That's_ what you use to determine if someone's a Controller or not?]_ He shook his giant, feline head. _[Super accurate.]_

"Isn't it?" I smirked. "So far it hasn't failed me. Now- get the fuck out of that form."

Blaine paused his pacing and did as he was instructed, transforming back to his normal human self. When he was finished, he sat on the floor with his knees to his chest, propped up against the unused bed in our room and running a nervous hand through his greasy hair.

I took a deep breath. "You wanna tell me what the fuck just happened?"

Blaine groaned, covering his eyes with his hand. "Well, everything was fine all night," he began softly. He stared down at the carpet, shaking his head slowly. "I walked Kurt to his door, and-" He looked to his right, a blush spreading over his cheeks, "he kissed me good night."

"Gross," Brittany said, but she was smiling.

I nudged her playfully with my hip. "Okay, so Lady Face kissed you. Then what happened?"

"Well, after he closed his door, I began to change."

"Into the tiger?"

"No- wolf. I changed into a wolf first," Blaine said. "But I didn't _mean_ to- I didn't focus on the wolf or anything, I just- I felt my heart pounding, and I got the same feeling I did when we found out Justin Bieber agreed to become a Controller- My skin felt really hot, and then I was growing fur and a tail and the next thing I knew, I was a wolf."

I shook my head. "Okay, so then how did you get to tiger?"

"Well, I panicked- I didn't know how I became the wolf, and the warm feeling grew worse, and then my fur changed and I was bulking up into the tiger."

"Wait- you went straight to tiger form from wolf form?" I demanded. I looked at Brittany. "How is that possible? I thought only _you_ could do that."

Brittany shook her head. "I have a theory, but let's hear the rest of Blaine's story."

"Well, I was halfway between wolf and tiger when the door opened, and that drunk guy saw me. He started yelling about me being a werewolf or something, I _think_- I don't know, it was in Spanish- and I finally finished changing into the tiger when he began to throw things at me. That's when I called for you," Blaine finished, running a hand through his hair again and averting his eyes guiltily. "I'm- really sorry."

I sighed, sitting down on the bed next to Brittany. "Me, too. And I have no idea what's wrong with you. Brittany? Do you know?"

Brittany nodded. "Yes. Blaine- you have an allergy."

Blaine's eyes widened. "An allergy?" He looked from Brittany to me. "An allergy to what?"

"What was the last animal you acquired?" Brittany asked, then answered her own question. "The tiger. You are allergic to tigers."

"Did you _know_ you had a cat allergy?" I asked.

"No, we have a pet _bird_," Blaine said flatly. "I- I've never really been around cats long enough to tell if I was allergic to them or not."

"Well, you most definitely _are_," I stated. "But how do we fix it? Is there some kind of EpiPen for transforming?"

Brittany shook her head. "Allergies are fairly common, and there is a natural process involved- we call it _hereth illint_."

"Aaand what's that?" Blaine asked, looking confused. I guess he'd never heard Andalite-ese before. "Am I going to die?"

I rolled my eyes. "Probably not, unfortunately."

"No, you will not die," Brittany agreed. "Your body is rejecting the tiger DNA, which is why you've been transforming uncontrollably. It's kind of like- sneezing."

"Sneezing?" Blaine repeated.

"Well, is there any way he _can_ control it? Because I'm about done with bailing his striped ass out of trouble," I grumbled.

Brittany smiled at me. "When he's lost control, it's been during times when he's been emotional, right?"

"Right," I agreed. I looked at Blaine. "The first time, you were angry at Justin. And the second time-"

"Got it," Blaine interrupted quickly, blushing deeper.

But I wasn't letting it go that easily. "The second time, Kurt had just pressed his sweet Lady Lips to yours, and you were caught up in your fantasies of making man-babies together, I'm sure."

Blaine huffed, annoyed, and I saw yellow feathers beginning to spread over his skin.

"Look- see?" Brittany asked. "You're becoming emotional again. The only way to keep the process under control is to control your emotions."

Blaine scratched his hand, which had feathers on it. "Got it," he repeated. He glared at me. "So how do I get rid of this allergy? What's _hereth illint_?"

"Basically- your body will expel the DNA on its own," Brittany said with a shrug.

"So he's going to shit DNA?" I laughed.

"No," Brittany grinned. "Although that would be highly amusing." She looked at Blaine, who surprisingly, did _not_ look amused, so she continued. "It's more like- the DNA will be expelled in the form of the animal, while retaining your own form. You have to concentrate on keeping yourself calm- at least, in theory. I've never actually had an allergy before, so I'm not completely certain what it's like."

"When's that going to happen?" Blaine asked impatiently, frustrated with Brittany's rambling. "I'm tired of wondering when I'm going to begin transforming into something against my will."

"It'll happen eventually, but there's no way to force it," Brittany told him. "Sorry."

"Keep your emotions under control and you won't transform against your will, anyway," I reminded. "Or can't you do that- now that Kurt's kisses have turned you into a wild animal?"

Blaine glared at me further, standing up. "You're really not helping me control my emotions," he pouted, walking to the door. He paused with his hand on the handle, then turned to look at me. "Thank you for helping me."

I smirked at him. "You're not welcome. Go ahead and leave."

Blaine smiled at me and left, and I sighed, letting my head drop to Brittany's shoulder, feeling exhausted, both mentally and physically, and stressed out on top of it.

Like this mission wasn't fucking complicated enough. We still had a Bieber concert to go to.

* * *

The next morning, I was exiting my hotel room with Brittany to take her down to the free _luxury_ continental breakfast offered by the hotel, when some blonde-haired lady walked by down the hall. The area where Count Boozy had thrown shit was sectioned off with yellow _Caution!_ tape, and while most of the items had been removed, there were still shards of broken glass and electronics scattered over the carpet, and blatant holes in the wall.

The blond-haired stranger rolled her eyes and gave a haughty huff.

"And they say construction is dead," I offered. Blonde Stranger was not amused.

"I can't believe this is the Hilton," she said, pulling her fur coat around herself. Yes- a fucking fur coat. "I didn't pay for _construction_."

"I'm sure they didn't plan on some ass pirate wrecking the place, either," I retorted, a little annoyed at this lady's attitude. It wasn't the Hilton's fault that some gay guy who could turn into animals couldn't control his transforming and had freaked some poor shit-tanked Crest commercial actor out. But I couldn't tell Blonde Stranger that.

She gave me a disgusted look and continued walking by, scoffing. "The Hilton in New York would never allow this," she complained, disappearing around the hall. "I am a _Broadway_ _star_…." She trailed off and I shook my head. What _even_.

Brittany slid her hand in mine and I forgot about Blonde Stranger and focused on making it to breakfast.

Unfortunately, life was not on my side, ever. Because as I reached the lobby to cross over into the huge dining area where breakfast was served, you'll never guess who was there.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Martinez," ~Unique~ said to the drunk guy from last night, "but I very seriously doubt there is a _tiger_ loose in our hotel. You will have to take full financial responsibility for the damages incurred."

"But I _swear_ to you, it was real!" Mr. Martinez, aka Count Boozy, exclaimed in heavily-accented English.

"Please lower your voice," ~Unique~ demanded.

I felt my pulse quickening. Obviously, ~Unique~ didn't believe Mr. Martinez- but a Controller _would_ be suspicious and make the connection that a tiger roaming around probably meant that we were nearby. We'd already had a close run-in with Rachel, and we really couldn't afford to have the Yeerks know we were on to them. If Mr. Martinez kept babbling like an idiot, a Controller was bound to hear. I sighed irritably. Looks like _I_ had to do something- again.

"It's a little early in the morning to be drinking already, isn't it?" I called as I walked up.

~Unique~ raised an eyebrow. "You know him?"

"Not very well, but he was definitely sloshed last night, and he seems to be that way again this morning," I said, nodding my head gravely.

Mr. Martinez looked alarmed. "It's _you_," he whispered in awe. "Tell her about the tiger!" Okay, so ~Unique~ is a _her_. Got it.

I shook my head pityingly. "You need to cut back on the alcohol, sir."

"I swear I'm not-"

"He's definitely wasted," I stage whispered to ~Unique~. Then I turned to Mr. Martinez. "Dude, you should probably go lie down before you hurt someone- or yourself."

"But I'm not-" Mr. Martinez protested, and that's when I'd reached my daily limit of time-wasting conversations.

"[If you don't _shut the fuck up_ about what you saw, I will call my _friend_ the _Devil Tiger_ to come devour you _in your sleep_,]" I snarled at him in a deadly tone- but in Spanish, so ~Unique~ couldn't understand. Mr. Martinez's eyes widened in fear and I smiled sweetly at him. "Now run along." I waved my hand at him in a shooing motion.

I'd never seen a man leave so fast. To his credit, he didn't even wobble as he took off like a bat out of hell exiting that lobby. I sent a pleasant smile to ~Unique~, then grabbed Brittany's hand, and finally, _finally_ made my way over to breakfast.

* * *

_[So what's the plan?]_ Arty asked. It was concert time, and we were all in bird form, circling over the Convention Center.

_[_Is_ there a plan?]_ Quinn asked dryly.

_[I thought we went over the plan already,]_ Kurt said.

_[At least a billion times,]_ I agreed.

_[Then what is it?]_ Sam challenged.

_[Uh.]_

_[Hm.]_

_[Well…]_

_[You guys are hopeless,]_ Sam sighed_. [The plan is-]_

_[Hey! Is that Selena Gomez down there?!]_ Kurt interrupted excitedly.

_[I thought they broke up,]_ Mercedes pondered.

_[Yeah- her love song ended,]_ I joked lamely, giggling to myself.

_[Can we-] _Sam started.

_[So why would she be at his concert?]_ Arty asked, cutting Sam off.

_[That's not even her,]_ Blaine complained. _[It's just some brunette girl.]_

_[Bummer,]_ Arty said, clearly disappointed that he couldn't ogle Selena's smokin' bod.

It was quiet for a second, and then Sam said_, [So… the plan?]_

_[Are we still following that?]_ Brittany asked.

_[Yes,]_ Sam answered, annoyed_. [Let's get closer and see if we can get down into the backstage area. Santana, Kurt, Blaine- lead the way.]_

I pulled my shoulders back, spilling air from my wings, and swooped down and around the building. I had a better idea of where the dressing rooms were located, so we didn't have to sneak in under the loading dock door and creep across half the building this time. We reached the side door that lead to the dressing room hallway and quickly transformed back to human behind a wall corralling a handicapped ramp. Brittany kept watch with her four eyes. It was just starting to get dark, and the concert had already started, so we were mostly sure we weren't going to run in to anyone, but we still had to keep a lookout for the occasional idiot.

We were hunkered down around the corner from the door, hiding, when Kurt asked, "Okay… _now_ what?"

"We've gotta get in that door," Sam whispered.

"Obviously," Quinn whispered back sharply.

_[I could cut it open,]_ Brittany offered.

"No!" Sam said heatedly.

I patted Brittany's velvet hand. "Low profile, honey."

"So what do we do, then?" Blaine asked, his voice quiet and low.

"Do you guys even listen when I make plans?" Sam demanded, angry, glaring at us.

"We do the first time," Quinn started.

"It's when you start repeating it that we all just kind of glaze over," I agreed.

Sam huffed. "Well, to refresh your obviously short memories, one of us changes to stealth mode and creeps under the door, and then-"

The sound of the door opening made all of our ears perk up. I peeked around the corner. Some guy dressed in all black, obviously a stage hand, had exited from the door, and he stood a few feet away, lighting up a cigarette.

And he'd left the door propped open.

_Hah_.

Against Sam's angry head-shaking advice, I snuck around the corner quietly, walking right past the kid who was smoking a cigarette and now talking angrily on his cellphone.

"_No_, I don't know when the concert will be over, Mom," the kid whined irritably. He took a drag of his cigarette. I kept creeping towards the door, pausing only to make a waving motion towards the others, gesturing for them to follow. I peeked in the darkened doorway- it seemed deserted. Everyone was getting ready for the concert, I guess.

Quinn was right behind me as I strolled through the doorway, standing guard and watching the kid as the others snuck in right behind her.

"Why can't you be more supportive of my singing?" Whiny Kid asked angrily into the phone. "Ever since I had to drop out of _Oliver!_, you've been really negative towards my career." Pause. "No, I _know_ that working a concert four hours away isn't the same as pursuing theatre, but you have to _break into the business_, Mom!"

I rolled my eyes, and, once Brittany tiptoed inside, I let the door close with an audible CLICK.

I'd've liked to see the look on Whiny Kid's face right then, because he just got his ass locked out.

* * *

_[This is awful,]_ Quinn groaned. We were in bird form again, perched high above the stage on the light bars, keeping an eye on Justin Bieber below. The concert had started, and we were unfortunately being subjected to Bieber's music. I really wished I was deaf.

_[Tell me about it,]_ Arty muttered.

_['All I need is a beauty and a beat',]_ Kurt quoted disbelievingly. _[That _is_ what he's saying, right?]_

_['To make my life complete,']_ Brittany confirmed.

_[I could eat alphabet soup and _shit_ better lyrics,]_ I complained.

Quinn laughed. We suffered some more, and then the song changed.

"_If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go!_" Bieber sang.

_[Oh my gosh! I loooove this song!]_ Blaine said excitedly_. [This is definitely his best hit!] _

_[Yeah, Kurt? Pretty much lost a little respect for your boy, there,] _Mercedes muttered.

_[For real,]_ Arty agreed.

_[What? How can you guys not like this song?]_ Blaine gushed. _[It's so-]_

_[Blaine, I think you should probably calm your tits_,] I said pointedly. Blaine getting excited was the _last_ thing we needed-

_[Oh, shit.]_

So of course, that's exactly what happened.

_[Blaine, what are you doing?]_ Sam demanded.

_[Oh, no!]_ Blaine cried. He had begun to transform, though not to human. Gray fur was sprouting on top of his canary feathers, and he was growing larger by the second.

_[Control your emotions!]_ Brittany advised.

_[I'm trying!]_

_[Not hard enough!]_ I snapped. Blaine was still growing, but it had slowed somewhat.

Not enough.

_[What the hell is going on?]_ Kurt asked, sounding a cross between scared and angry.

I sighed. This was not going to be good_. [Blaine has an allergy,]_ I admitted.

_[What?!]_ Sam exploded.

_[An allergy to what?]_ Arty asked.

_[Tigers,]_ Brittany supplied helpfully.

_[And you knew?!]_ Sam demanded. Boy, did he sound pissed.

_[Well-]_

_ [He's going to fall off the bar,]_ Quinn pointed out.

_[Blaine!]_ Kurt cried dramatically_. [You have to change back!]_

_ [Change back? Gee, I hadn't thought of that!]_ Blaine yelled, sounding stressed as we all tried to offer him helpful advice.

_[Hold on to the bar!]_

_ [No! _Don't_ hold on to the bar!]_

_ [Fly down!]_

"_Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, up, up_-"

_[Are you insane? He can't be seen! He'll blow his identity!]_

_ [You're gonna have to,]_ Mercedes said. _[You're growing too large. You're gonna have to fly from there.]_

_ [He's not going to fly far,]_ Arty pointed out. _[He's too big.]_

_ [No choice,] _I snapped. _[He either does it, or he becomes a freak pancake. You're gonna have to land on the stage, Blaine.]_

_ [But-]_

_ [Just do it!] _Kurt said angrily, obviously concerned for Blaine's well-being. I would've been touched if it wasn't so gay and disgusting.

Blaine let go of the bar and dropped quickly, but he spread his wings and half-floated, half-fell towards the back of the stage and thankfully not right in front of Justin Bieber and his skeezy back-up dancers. Meanwhile, Bieber carried on like nothing was happening. The crowd of screaming girls continued to scream and cheer, the speakers thumped, the fog machine hissed, the lights flashed, the skeezies danced, and Blaine landed in an undignified heap of feathers and fur somewhere in the darkened mess of it all.

_[Uh- hmmm. I guess I probably should've told you about Blaine's little problem before, huh?]_ I said casually as we all perched on the bar, anxiously watching the spot where Blaine had landed for any sign of life.

_[No- it's much better for us to find out _this_ way,]_ Sam snapped. _[You know- when you could get us all killed.]_

I rolled my bird eyes, but okay- so he had a point.

_[So Blaine has an allergy,]_ Arty started, _[aaaand what are we supposed to do about it?]_

_ [There is a natural process called-]_

_ [Guys, I don't feel so good,]_ Blaine said from somewhere on stage.

_[What's wrong?]_ Kurt asked worriedly.

_[I feel- really sick. Like. Worse than ever,]_ Blaine explained.

_[Oh, fuck, don't tell me you're doing the _hereth illint _now__,]_ I moaned.

_[What the hell is _hereth illint_?]_ Sam demanded.

_[I think so,] _Blaine said wearily.

_[I'm going down there,]_ Kurt snapped.

_[Kurt-]_ Mercedes started, but Kurt had already released the bar and was swooping down to the stage. I shook my head but followed after, and as I got closer, I could see through the fake fog swirling around the stage- swirling around Blaine. He looked- well, in a word? Horrifying.

Blaine was still growing, even though he had become fully wolf. Something was growing out of his back-

_[What the fuck is that?!] _I asked.

_[The _hereth illint_,]_ Brittany said_. [It _is_ happening!]_

_[Anyone want to explain what the fuck is going on?]_ Kurt snapped.

_[For real,]_ Mercedes called down. _[I'm keeping a look-out, but I'd still like to know what's going on down there.]_

_ [Blaine's body is expelling the offensive DNA,]_ Brittany explained, but not _really_, because none of us knew what the fuck she was talking about.

[_When you say _expelling_,]_ Arty started slowly.

_[I mean he is ejecting the DNA in the form of the tiger,]_ Brittany said.

_[Hold up- you mean a full-grown tiger is gonna pop out of Blaine?]_ I asked.

_[Pretty much.]_

_ [Oh, shit.]_

_ [Looks like we figured out our way to ruin this concert,]_ Quinn said from above. _[Shit always works out.]_

_ [We can't unleash a wild tiger at a Bieber concert!]_ Sam cried, and before I could ask, _why not_?, he clarified, _[Innocent people could get hurt!]_

But Blaine was still growing. His wolf form was much smaller than the full-grown tiger that was literally mutating out of his back, and he was pinned to the ground beneath its weight. His skin stretched and twisted and eventually I could make out the sleek profile of the tiger, but- it was extremely gross to watch.

_[We've gotta transform and stop that thing,]_ Arty stated.

_[Q!]_ I called_. [Time to go Kimba.]_

_[Awesome,]_ she said smugly. _[Looks like we have a new member of B.E.T.H.]_

_ [I'm transforming,] _I told the others.

_[Me, too,]_ Kurt said.

_[Kurt, no,]_ Blaine pleaded. _[This tiger- it's not me. It will attack you, and you don't have anything that can take on a tiger.]_

_[Uh- _who_ are you talking to?]_ I asked as I focused on my change back to human. _[Kurt has a fucking _crocodile_-]_ I cut off as I finished my change to human. I took a deep breath, then focused on the cheetah. Quinn was seconds behind me. Arty was changing, too, but slower. He wasn't even human yet, and Quinn and I were already halfway to our big cat forms.

"_And your fight, is my fi-ight_," Bieber sang.

_[We're running out of Bieber songs,]_ Sam informed us. _[We need to get Blaine out of there.]_

_ [What, did you memorize his discography?] _I asked once I was fully cheetah.

_[No, I _actually_ paid attention to the movie,]_ Sam sniffed.

It was quiet for a few moments as we all processed that awful information.

And then, the full-grown male tiger that had somehow emerged from Blaine's back (don't ask me how the fuck that shit happened) leapt from Blaine's prone body.

I twitched my tail.

Showtime.

* * *

To his credit, Bieber didn't even notice the pandemonium going on onstage behind him. He kept right on singing, and his skeezies kept right on dancing. The crowd saw it, though- but, amazingly, they thought we were part of the performance. They thought _a lion and a cheetah taking on a huge tiger was part of a performance_.

Diablo Tiger was feisty, and was much more in tune with his instincts than we were. He also outweighed Quinn's lion by about 50 pounds, and I found out later that tigers have the largest brains of all felines- well, whaddya know. Quinn was faster, but was still pretty evenly matched. Her mane protected her neck from Diablo's crushing jaws, but _I_ didn't have that luxury, so I had to be a lot more cautious about getting in there to fight the tiger. I mostly just stayed out of the way, as Diablo mostly went for the main threat- Quinn.

_[Kurt! Get Blaine out of here,]_ I told him, and Kurt, who had managed to make it into wolf form, helped a weary Blaine limp off stage- I guess the 400+ crushing pounds of the tiger had really wounded him. I refocused on the fight. We just had to take care of Diablo and then we were going to make our exit ourselves, because so far, we hadn't been spotted by the Yeerks- _yet_. This really was one fucking insanely circumstantial weekend.

However, _taking care_ of Diablo was proving far more difficult than I had previously thought. Diablo was not giving up easily. The tide finally turned when Arty, still in human form, managed to put his hand on the tiger and acquired it, putting it in a trance and giving Sam a chance to join the fray as a gorilla. Quinn and I took a small breather while we figured out our next move.

The concert went on.

And then Arty removed his hand.

_[This is a hot damn mess,]_ Mercedes mumbled from up in the lights. _[I can't believe how much this crowd is enjoying this.]_

_ "There's gonna be one less lonely girl!"_

_ [Oh, no, I _hate_ this song!] _I groaned.

_ [You hate _every_ song,] _Brittany pointed out from the sidelines. I hadn't even noticed what she'd transformed into, I'd been so focused on _not_ getting destroyed. She hadn't transformed at all, but she stood hidden in shadows. I mean, I can't blame her- if I was an alien version of a _deer_ I'd probably stay clear of three wrestling big cats, too.

A loud roar from Quinn thankfully ended that shitty song quickly, because it prompted Bieber to stop singing and turn around. When he took a look at the absolute chaos that was happening _literally_ right behind him, he staggered stage right and immediately vomited everywhere.

_[Ew,]_ Mercedes commented. _[I thought that YouTube video was a hoax. But I guess he really just throws up on stage at his concerts.]_

_[Professional,]_ Sam said.

_[Bet he's still hung over from the hotel party,]_ Kurt pointed out from the wings. Lucky asshole. He waits in the wings while I get pummeled by a devil tiger, and crashes my romantic ice skating date while I dig his man-candy out of awkward situations. Fuck my life.

Unfortunately, Bieber's barf drew the attention of Diablo, who quickly closed in on him. Surprised, Bieber toppled over, landing sprawled on his back and holding the microphone out in defense- like a weapon. It was pretty comical- it almost looked like Bieber was giving the tiger a chance to sing. Diablo advanced on him, Bieber cowered, and I decided that a dead Bieber- while it _would_ solve our problem of him being infested- wasn't exactly the goal we were shooting for, and I stepped in.

Stepped_ in front_ _of a tiger_.

It was like a Smart Car moving in front of a Mack Truck. I hissed, ears flat against my skull, Diablo roared, and then Quinn blind-sided him. They rolled, hissing and screeching and clawing. Fur flew, blood spattered across the stage- and then a _second_ tiger joined the fight.

Arty.

Once Diablo got a good look at Tiger Arty- an _exact_ copy of him- he decided the odds were not in his favor, and he moved to leave the stage, scaring the skeezies on his way who went shrieking in every direction. I tried not to laugh at the poor fucks who were backstage and about to be in a world of fear with Diablo Tiger.

And then, over my spotted shoulder, I saw Rachel.

She was standing in the wings, most of her covered in shadows, but I could still make out the expression of rage on her face through the flurry of fleeing skeezies and stage hands.

"Andalite!" She hissed, and my superior hearing caught the word even through the cacophony of noise. I shook my sleek, cheetah head.

_[Now, Rachel, you know better than that,]_ I snapped.

Her eyes widened, recognizing my voice, and she opened her mouth to say something- then left it open as Diablo Tiger advanced on her suddenly. I stood debating whether or not I should risk my tiny cheetah ass to save her when Quinn pounced, her big paws slamming into Diablo's shoulder and making him stagger but not fall over.

Diablo turned to confront Quinn, but she roared, making the hair on my neck stand on end and my tail twitch anxiously. Diablo slinked away into the darkness, and Quinn spared a glance at Rachel before she turned to me.

_[Come on!]_

I didn't need to be told twice. I followed her as we ran off stage in the opposite direction, chasing after Sam, Brittany and Arty.

_[You saved Rachel,]_ I pointed out as we leapt down some stairs and terrorized some people down a hallway.

Quinn hesitated for a moment before she answered_. [She's a _prisoner_, Santana… I remember what that's like.]_

I nodded my feline head. _[Fair enough.]_

I didn't think about it too hard. We were out of there, leaving Rachel- a _prisoner_- far behind us.

* * *

"_Bieber's use of animals in his concert was a raging success. Critics are calling it 'genius'-_"

"What the _fuck_?" I raged. "This kid's getting credit for _our_ hard work? You can't be serious!"

"Shh!" Mercedes said, waving her hand, grinning and bouncing in her seat a little. "I've got to hear this!"

We were gathered back in the _Batcave_- all of us _Transformers_ and Sugar. We had flown home immediately after the concert, dragging our tired asses to bed and collapsing. It was now Monday night, and Arty and Blaine had come over after school to share the newspaper article detailing the Justin Bieber concert with us.

"It gets better," Arty promised. "Just listen: _When questioned, Justin responded with, 'It's a gift. I just get these great ideas, you know?'"_

"Oh, _come on_-"

"Shh!"

Arty continued, his voice raising in excitement, "Though _all_ of the other animals mysteriously disappeared, one tiger managed to escape out into the wild. Experts from zoos and reserves across the state have been tracking it, but so far, the tiger has evaded capture and is still at large… and then it lists a phone number to call if you spot it."

"Wow," Mercedes said.

"I know, right?" Blaine said, smiling.

"Go, tiger," I agreed, impressed. Diablo was a tough motherfucker, I guess.

"And here I thought Bieber was going to play it off as a hangover hallucination," Sam said with a shake of his head.

"Was he really that drunk?" Kurt asked. "I missed the actual ralphing."

Sugar laughed. "Oh, I saw the footage. He was definitely white-girl wasted."

"Offensive," Brittany deadpanned.

"Well, I hope we learned our lessons," Sam said seriously.

"Sure did- 'don't ever listen to Sam's plan, because we can come up with a better one on the fly'," I said with a smirk.

"Or how about- 'let Quinn and Santana handle all of the fighting'?" Blaine agreed with a grin.

"My favorite-' be sure to keep important transforming problems from the rest of the group until a crucial moment- it'll _probably_ turn out okay'," Kurt laughed.

"Very funny, guys," Sam sulked.

"Aw, Sam, don't be a Sour Patch. We won, didn't we?" I asked.

"I think, _clearly_, the real winner here is the _tiger_," Quinn stated with a wry smile.

"And Q, I might just have to agree with you on that."

* * *

**(Because of that joke where Justin Bieber bought a tiger...)**

**And with that, I am officially back on my schedule! :D**

**Hopefully see you next week with a slightly more serious, but interesting, chapter. **

**Review if you feel like it, but if not, hey, it's all good. I'll survive. :'(**

**Keep calm and ship Brittana, no matter what trolls say. Heather said the same shit about Brittana being "done" before Season 3 started and guess what- we got a whole season of Brittana love. Brittana is NEVER done, it's just gonna suck for a while, but in the end, it'll all be worth it. **

**See you soon, pals!**


	27. Wish

**HELLO EVERYONE ON ANOTHER MONDAY. 8)~**

**First, I just want to confess- all that SAG/Heyanessa stuff? SCREAMING and then weeping. Those perfect angels, bless their little hearts! :')**

**Okay, so. Back to bidnez. I forgot to mention that last chapter was a plot from one of my favorite **_**Animorphs**_** books, #12. Gotta give credit where it's due. The book I based the plot off of was hysterical, so I hope I did it a little justice. **

**Also- I know I said that there were only 7 more chapters to go, like, at least 3 chapters ago, but you guys have been so supportive and positive about the story, and I've been having so much fun writing it and especially covering the plots from my favorite **_**Animorphs**_** books, that there's probably still like 7 more to go. Sorry. :X I don't plan on revisiting this universe once this story is finished, unless it's like a random one-shot here and there, so I've gotta get all my feels out this time around. This story will end with an epilogue, so everything should be wrapped up neatly for you guys; and there will be an accompanying one-shot with the final chapter, covering a topic I'd like to address that's related but doesn't fit in with the actual epilogue. I'll tell you guys more when we get closer to the end, but that's like 7 more chapters away, LOLing 5eva.**

**I don't, however, plan on giving up writing fanfics. I have like five more adventures I plan to embark on once this story is done, and I hope to see you all along the way. :)**

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, followed, loved, hated, and lurked the last chapter. You guys are awesome! **

**And on that note, I would just like to point out- this chapter gets pretty heavy, as do most of the rest of the chapters up to the epilogue. There will still be a few humorous and plenty of sexy moments, but we are going to tackle some heavy issues, so just- proceed with caution, all right? :x**

**Happy (heavy) reading!**

* * *

_[Santana! Behind you!] _

I turned quickly at the sound of Blaine's thought-speak cry, just in time to confront the Hork-Bajir charging towards me head on. The Hork-Bajir swung wildly for my head, and thanks to my speed, I managed to move just in time to avoid a lobotomy, but his wrist blade cut into my shoulder, slicing down to the bone. The cheetah hissed in pain, and I cried out, too- it fucking _hurt_, but I was quickly growing numb to pain because I was in so much of it. Automatically, I leaped to tear out the Hork-Bajir's throat, but he dodged my attack.

He was so _fast_. Either that, or I was slowing down. Probably both.

All around me, the sounds of battle were raging. We were winning, but just barely. We were in a building- the new Community Center, to be exact. The place where Quinn had been infested. Sugar had told us that there was a new entrance to the Yeerk Pool being constructed there- and something _else_, but she didn't know what. We had gone in to investigate, and instead were met with a total ambush that left us struggling for our lives, and not even a step closer to figuring out what was at the Community Center.

The Hork-Bajir we were fighting were some kind of elite special squadron of Hork-Bajir. They all had orange bandanas tied around their right biceps like some kind of Yeerk version of Crips or something, but they definitely weren't fucking around. They were faster, stronger, and obviously a lot more trained in battle than the usual Hork-Bajir we had been fighting all these months. If we had gone up against _these_ guys in any of our first battles, we would have been dead instantly. It was only because we had so much experience, both in our avatars and fighting in general, that we were holding our own.

The Hork-Bajir I was engaged with managed to get another good cut into my neck before I was able to take him down. The cut was deep, but not fatal. But if I didn't transform soon, I'd probably just straight-up die from blood loss. I was already feeling weak.

I looked around for the others, who were all in a similarly damaged state. Brittany was hobbling on three legs, and her tail was completely covered in blood and gore. Arty was missing his left front paw. Everyone was sporting huge bleeding gashes or amputated limbs. Mercedes looked the least broken, but bears were pretty hard to mangle in general.

Sam finished off the last Hork-Bajir, and I limped over closer to the exit, sliding a little on the blood-slicked floor. There was _so much_ carnage. I felt sick.

"Help me. I'm so cold."

The whimpering sound of a human-Controller drifted to my sensitive ears, and I set my cheetah jaw and tried to block it out.

I just couldn't.

Sam looked over at the human-Controller- probably trying to decide if he wanted to put him out of his misery. I stood, feeling light-headed, trying to concentrate on breathing, on keeping my lungs working. Everything was getting blurry around the edges, and I felt dizzy.

At my feet, a Hork-Bajir was on his side, writhing in agony, his breath coming in quick, gurgling bursts. The Yeerk had left him, and he lied, twitching and muttering- _praying_- in his own language. I swallowed thickly. I recognized the very distinctive bite marks of the cheetah at the base of his neck.

I turned away, shaken.

Sam finally broke out of his silent moment and turned heavily towards the door. _[Let's go,]_ he said solemnly, and we all struggled to follow him.

* * *

"We were set up," I snarled angrily. We were currently in a dark alley about a mile from the Convention Center, resting for a few moments to regain the strength we needed to make the flight back to the _Batcave_. But I was shaken, I was _scared_, and both of those feelings led to me being angry.

"That's ridiculous," Kurt argued. "Why would Sugar set us up?"

"Think about it," I snapped. "She got the blue box- her Yeerk left her- why the fuck does she still need us around, taking up space and spending her money? So she set us up-"

"You're _insane_," Kurt hissed.

"Yeah, well you're a coward," I fired back, clenching my fists.

"And you're a bitch," Kurt said, glaring at me.

"Cut it out," Sam said angrily. "Now is not the time for this."

"Oh, so when _is_ the time?" I demanded. I stuck my finger in Kurt's face. "You never pull your own weight," I accused. "I'm tired of bailing your ass out of-"

"Guys, come on," Blaine pleaded quietly.

"You are so full of shit, Santana," Kurt retorted, his tone bordering on hurt. I didn't care. I was too angry, too frustrated. Was this my life? Was this seriously how shit was going to be? I was reaching my breaking point-

"No, she's right," Quinn chimed in. "She _does_ save your ass quite a bit."

"We _all_ save each other's asses," Blaine pointed out.

"_You_ can shut the hell up, because you can't even save your _own_ ass," I snarled.

"Oh, wow, what a big, mature adult you are, Santana," Kurt taunted. "Picking on the new guy- very welcoming of you."

"Would you rather I suck his dick, like you?"

"Go to hell."

"We were just _there_."

"I said, cut it out!" Sam yelled, his hands balled into fists at his side. He slammed his right fist into the nearby dumpster, and Mercedes, who had been sitting on the dirty, stained pavement propped up against it, released a choked sob. "We don't fucking need this right now!"

"You know what _I_ don't need?" I spat. "Any of this. Any of _you_."

"Yeah, right," Kurt said viciously. "If you weren't with us, you'd be working on a _pole_."

"Fine," I said calmly, my tone low and deadly. I focused on the Mississippi Kite DNA swimming in my enraged blood, and felt the changes begin.

"Santana-" Quinn started.

"No. You all can go _fuck yourselves_. I'm done."

* * *

I flew home to the _Batcave_. Hypocritical, I know, but I couldn't make any rash decisions about leaving while I was angry. I ignored Sugar's cheerful greeting as I entered, ignored the way her face fell as I swept right on past her and into my room, slamming the door. Once alone, I put my hands on either side of my head and pressed hard. My vision was swimming. My hearing was muffled as I heard voices outside my door. I felt sick, dizzy. I was shaking with fatigue, trying to catch my breath. I was beyond exhausted.

I just couldn't do this anymore. I couldn't.

I was about to go into a full blown anxiety attack when the door reopened and Brittany, who'd obviously followed me after my outburst, came into the room. I sensed her hesitation behind me, and then heard the rustle of her movement as she stepped up behind me cautiously, slowly wrapping her arms around me. Normally, Brittany's embrace calmed me down, soothed me.

But not today.

Her touch set me on edge, making my skin vibrate. I was too freaked out, too angry, too- _everything_. I shook my head quickly, pulling forward out of her arms.

"Don't," I said, trying to keep the venom out of my voice, but it had already poisoned my whole body.

"Santana," Brittany pleaded quietly, and I shook my head again, pressing harder on the sides of my face, trying to block everything out, but it _wasn't working_.

"Please, Brittany, just let it go," I snapped. I hated how I sounded- I wasn't mad at _her_- I wasn't mad at anyone really, just the situation. Just my own feeling of helplessness, of being trapped in a cycle, of being trapped in a war that I couldn't escape from, that I never wanted to even be a part of.

I never asked for this.

"Okay," Brittany whispered sadly, the hurt evident in her voice. I knew later I would feel bad about it, but at the moment I just wanted to sleep. I only hoped she would understand- that she would forgive me once I calmed down.

I crawled onto the bed and faced the wall, keeping my back to Brittany. I curled into myself, feeling the urge to cry, but no tears were coming. I wrapped my arms around myself and just tried to breathe, tried to clear my mind of the memories of slaughter I had just participated in, tried to erase the images of bloodshed.

I felt the bed dip beside me, and knew Brittany had lain down. She kept her distance, which I was thankful for- I was afraid if she touched me I'd fall apart, and I was barely keeping myself together. I was barely holding on to my sanity. I knew she had moved there in case I changed my mind- because she was perfect, because her presence normally comforted me, because she knew and understood me so well that she realized I needed space but wanted to be close just in case- but I just- I couldn't deal with any of the emotions going through me at the moment.

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep, shuddering breath.

And I wished I'd never walked through that construction site.

* * *

**AS YOU WISH**

* * *

It was Friday after school, and I was at the mall with Quinn. We had just gotten out of Cheerios practice with Coach Roz, and I was buying a new pair of sneakers, because I sure as hell did not want to endure another lecture about respecting shoes by not scuffing them. Like, for real? It was _not_ that serious. But apparently, to Coach Roz, it _was_.

So I was at the mall, about to drop $120 of my parent's money on some Nikes while Quinn complained.

"Found them," I announced after checking out nearly every shelf of shoe in the store. I scooped up the pair I needed and stared down an associate until he came over and did his only job, which was to assist me. It didn't hurt that I was still in my cheerleading outfit, sporting an extremely short skirt.

_God bless the perv that invented these_.

After the store clerk scurried to get my size from the back, I turned to Quinn. She had mentioned a date with Puck, and even though I didn't _really_ care because Puck and I were definitely completely over, I decided to ask, anyways. "Where are you guys going?"

"He's taking me to a party," Quinn said, and I could practically hear the wheels turning in her head as she suddenly came up with a great idea that involved inviting me along.

"Quinn, I'm already going to the party," I told her, rolling my eyes. "Mike's hosting it, remember? He invited practically the whole school."

She shrugged. "Oh. Guess I forgot. So you're going?"

"Duh."

* * *

Mike lived in the neighborhood next to mine, but the nicer version. The two neighborhoods were separated by an old, abandoned construction site, and my parents warned me several times about going near it, especially at night. Not that I'd ever felt the need to. I mean, why would I want to hang out at a construction site? What would I even do there, besides shoot up with the piss-scented homeless people? Thanks, but- I'm _good_.

I had my mom drop me off at Mike's house when it was time for the party, since it was one of the rare occasions when she was actually home when I was, and I was dressed to kill. It had been a while since I'd gotten my mack on, and I was definitely looking to get some action at the party. A girl has needs, you know? And since Mike was super popular _and_ on the football team, he always got all the cool kids to come to his parties- and that's where I came in. The downside is that Mike was also in the Glee Club- Rhythm Explosion or whatever the hell it was called. And that meant all the unpopular kids showed up at his parties, too. I rolled my eyes as I spotted Stubble McCripplePants rolling around in his wheelchair, then saw Wheezy making the love eyes at Sam from across the room. Give me a break. Those two were _so_ obvious.

I tried to catch Matt's eye- he was on the football team and wasn't completely repulsive- but just when I thought I was getting somewhere, the last person on Earth I wanted to see came right over and talked to me as if she actually knew me or something.

"Hi, Santana," Rachel said in her screeching voice. I tried not to openly cringe, but I've gotta say, it was really difficult.

"Hobbit," I acknowledged with a glare. There went all the joy in my evening.

Rachel ignored my less-than-friendly reception and started prattling on about a club called "New Directions." I pretended to listen while inspecting a lint spot on a person's sweater over her shoulder, and wondered where Matt had gone off to. I hoped he hadn't seen me talking to Rachel. I frowned. Okay, time to end this conversation.

"Fascinating," I said, and Rachel frowned at me as she caught on that I was not interested in the slightest about her lame-ass club. She wandered away and I took a long sip of my drink and smiled. Time to go find Matt.

I looked, but I couldn't find him right away, and when the Glee kids started to play Spin the Bottle, I decided that was my cue to leave because I sure as hell wasn't going to make it through a round of that. I looked for Quinn on the way out, but she was in the kitchen, arguing with her mom on the phone. She looked visibly upset, but whatever, Quinn's a big girl and she could take care of herself. I was out.

As I exited the house, I saw Puck, Sam, Wheezy, and some gay kid standing on the lawn. Puck offered me a smirk and I rolled my eyes. The guy was insufferable- he'd come here with Quinn, but he was eying me like a piece of meat. And I'm not gonna lie, I halfway considered it. Matt hadn't turned out, after all.

"You walkin' home?" Puck asked, giving me a leer.

"Nah, thought I'd come stand on the lawn like a _loser_."

"You can walk home with us, Santana," Sam offered with a big, fish-lipped smile.

"Have your lips always been that big?" I wondered out loud.

Puck laughed and encouraged me to make more snarky comments- what can I say, I keep it real, and I'm _hilarious_- but I shut him down quickly. Sam tried to explain to me why he was walking Mercedes home- like that wasn't real fucking obvious already- but he used too many words and I quickly ran out of patience and shut him down, too. Gay Kid humbly asked to walk with us, and I honestly didn't care because I'd be ignoring the whole party's existence as soon as we started walking, anyways.

The five of us started down the street towards my neighborhood.

When we reached the edge of the construction site, Puck tried to assert his manhood by bragging about how brave he was, and how he wasn't scared to use the shortcut through it to reach our neighborhood faster.

"Have fun walking through it by yourself," I told him with a casual shrug.

I kept right on walking.

Puck huffed and followed after, and we took the long way around the site to get home.

As we were walking, we saw a streak of light come down towards the construction site. It was weird- like maybe a meteor hit or something? But I didn't care too much. I wanted to get home, and by the look Puck was giving me, there was a pretty good chance that he was coming with me.

I smirked.

* * *

I slammed my locker shut. "So what the hell is New Directions? Rachel mentioned it at the party on Saturday- I _think_. I mean, I don't know for certain- you know, I'm really trying to maintain my hearing for the long term so I tune her out as often as possible." I looked at Quinn for an explanation. It was Monday, and just another boring school day. Class, Cheerios practice, the usual.

Quinn shrugged. "It's some club, I guess. Finn talked to me about it. It sounds really uplifting. They're all about helping others or whatever. They could almost be a church group."

"No shit." I shouldered my bag. "You didn't return my call from Saturday."

Quinn shrugged again. "Yeah, I had a busy weekend. Sorry about that."

The bell rang and I sighed. "See you at practice," I told Quinn as I parted from her and headed to class. I really hoped that Quinn wasn't _actually_ thinking of joining a club as lame as New Directions. I'm not sure even we were popular enough to do that and still maintain our reputations. But if anyone could do it, it would be us. Quinn was Head Cheerleader and I was her second-in-charge. We ruled the school, we were untouchable. So if we had to join New Directions- ugh, is that seriously what it's called?- hopefully our statuses would be retained.

What really had me curious, though, is why Quinn would want to join New Directions to begin with.

* * *

"So I missed you at the party last Friday night," I told Matt when I saw him on Thursday evening at the football game. We had lost- of _course_- but I didn't actually care. I wasn't a cheerleader because I liked to _cheer_, or even cared about football. That's just crazy.

"Yeah, I saw you talking to Rachel," Matt said warily, and my stomach froze. Oh, _no_. He had seen me talking to Rachel. Ugh.

"She's so _weird_; you know, she just came up and started talking to me about this lame-ass club called New Directions," I complained. Matt's eyes widened when I mentioned the club.

"You should be careful around her," Matt said, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial level. I raised an eyebrow. Why the fuck was he getting all secretive about his distrust of the Hobbit? _I'd_ say it loud and proud that I think she's a freak. And well- I guess I _do_. But I had to admit, Matt's abrupt change in attitude was really kind of creeping me out. "That club is bad news," he added at my confused expression.

"What do you mean?"

"Theyt're just… they're creepy." He paused. "Look, I was going to join once." My eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he nodded. "No, really. It sounded cool, you know? Being all neighborly, helping people. They really pitch to you about taking care of each other, about bonding together. Great stuff." He paused again, lowering his voice once more. "But then they start talking about how you have to give up part of yourself-" I felt a chill go down my spine at his words, but I couldn't figure out why as he continued, "that you have to become a _part_ of something bigger, and, I don't know, man, that just really creeps me out, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It sounds strange as fuck."

"It totally was! So after you've been to a few meetings, they ask if you want to be a _full_ member or not. And if you don't become one, then you pretty much have to leave. You lose all that camaraderie and stuff. Just- _done_. But like, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't give part of myself up for _the cause_," Matt said.

I nodded absently, lost in his words. This club didn't exactly sound like the most thrilling thing to join. In fact, it sounded really weird, like- _Stepford Wives_ weird. I wasn't sure I even wanted to go to _any_ meetings, but over the course of the past week, Quinn had seemed even more into going to at least one meeting, so I knew I would have to be subjected to one in the future.

"Hey guys," Sam said as he walked up to me and Matt. He was sweaty, and he had his helmet tucked under his arm. I smiled politely at him as he and Matt shook hands.

"Good game, bro," Matt said.

"You, too," Sam responded with a wide smile and a nod. He looked at me. "Nice cheering, Santana."

I smirked. "Thanks, Trouty. I'm glad you enjoyed me doing air splits in a short skirt."

Sam cleared his throat, embarrassed, and then turned his attention to Matt. "Did I hear you guys talking about that new club?"

"New Directions," Matt confirmed. "Yeah- it's bad news, man, stay away from it."

"Really?" Sam asked, looking troubled. "Mercedes has been talking about it ever since her best friend, Kurt, joined earlier this week. She's been thinking about going to a meeting to scope it out, and she wanted me to go along with her- but you said it's _bad_?" Matt nodded in response.

"It's really creepy," I told Sam. "But Quinn has been begging me to go with her. We're thinking about checking it out tomorrow."

"Maybe I'll go with Mercedes tomorrow, too, if you're going," Sam said thoughtfully. "That way if it's weird at least I'll have someone to talk to."

* * *

I let my gaze wander around the room as I sipped coolly on my red solo cup of Hawaiian punch. Yeah- punch. It wasn't even spiked or anything. I tried to withhold my eye roll.

It was Friday after school and Cheerios practice, and Quinn and I had made the short walk over to the old Community Center down the street from the school, where the New Directions meeting was being held. The building was musty and hadn't been used in years- that is, until New Directions came along- but I was surprised at how cleaned up it looked on the inside.

There was a long table on one side of the room that had the usual refreshments- jugs of punch, cookies, brownies, vegetable dip. There were a couple of pool tables, an air hockey table, some couches, a television with an Xbox 360 hooked up to it- it looked like the ideal place for a bunch of people who didn't have anything else to do to hang out.

I watched everyone around me- there were a lot of people from Glee club there. Even _Jewfro_ was there. Gross.

Finn was there. He walked around like he was in charge- I guess he'd been what Matt called a full member for a long time. But he seemed friendly enough- he welcomed everyone with a huge, dopey smile and galumphed around on his gigantic feet, talking to everyone excitedly.

"Well, it seems kind of okay," Quinn said hesitantly from my side.

I shrugged. "It seems kind of lame, you mean."

Quinn laughed. "Okay, you're right. But you have to admit, the atmosphere is really positive."

I nodded absently, taking another long sip of my punch. "Yeah. I'm just waiting for everyone to join hands and start singing _Kumbaya_."

"Quinn! Santana!"

I groaned. It was Rachel.

"Can we _not_," I muttered, and Quinn shrugged helplessly as Rachel quickly made her way over, smiling and waving enthusiastically.

"I'm so glad you two could make it!" Rachel turned to me. "Santana, I'm particularly excited to see you here. After our talk at the party last Friday I was exceptionally concerned that you may not have been listening to me and I wondered if maybe my approach to welcome you to the club had been executed in a futile manner, but now that you're here I must congratulate both you and myself for making a remarkable decision-"

"Can you just. Stop. Talking," Quinn said, shaking her head slowly and looking at Rachel like she had three heads.

Rachel blinked.

"Hey ladies," Sam called. I turned, relieved for the distraction.

"Hi, Sam, I was just looking for you. There's a pickle jar over here that needs opening, and I couldn't find anyone to suck the lid off."

Sam rolled his eyes good-naturedly and smiled, and that's when I noticed Mercedes at his side. I raised an eyebrow.

"Hi, everyone," she greeted. She turned to Rachel. "Have you seen Kurt?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes, he's in the back. He just became a _full member_ today, I'm so proud of him." Her face twitched and twisted into a frown for the briefest second- but then her expression returned to normal just as quickly. It was weird. Rachel shook her head. "He's giving a speech later, so you guys should really hang out."

"Sounds awesome," I mumbled sarcastically. Rachel glared at me.

"Well, should I show you around, Mercedes? I really think you're going to benefit a lot from all of the great things New Directions has to offer you," she babbled, and, blessedly, walked away. Mercedes followed uncertainly, but her attention was caught.

Quinn looked at me curiously.

I shrugged and waved my hand. "Well? You came to check this place out. Why don't you go with them? I'll wait here with Sam. Maybe I'll finally get to enjoy that pickle."

Quinn laughed, but gave me a grateful expression, then moved to follow Rachel and Mercedes at a distance. I turned to Sam. "So… what do you think of this place?"

Sam looked around, taking it all in. "It seems pretty welcoming. And fun. I don't know I guess I could see myself joining a club like this."

I nodded. "But what about Matt's warning?"

Sam shrugged. "Maybe Matt was wrong? I'm just not getting any bad vibes about this place, you know?" He looked at me seriously. "Are you?"

"I don't know, I mean, it's hard to tell. I haven't been here that long. I guess we should look around ourselves, see if we find anything out of the ordinary- like people being turned into robots or something."

Sam laughed.

And that's when Finn decided to make his rounds to us.

"Sam! Santana! I'm so glad you guys could make it," Finn said, smiling at us. I forced a polite smile in return.

"Thanks for the invite, dude," Sam responded, genuinely returning Finn's smile. But that was just Sam- he was a nice guy. Sometimes _too_ nice. It's why we didn't work out. That, and- well, other reasons.

"I think you guys are really going to like this club," Finn said, and I felt an eerie feeling creeping over me as I realized that he sounded very similar to Rachel. They all seemed to be trying too hard to push this club on people. I took another sip of my punch.

"You must've really liked it if you quit football," Sam pointed out. He shook his head in confusion. "I thought you loved football, man."

Finn nodded. "I _did_. But I just realized- there are bigger things out there, you know? More important things. I really found my sense of purpose. New Directions helped me become part of something so big, you can't even imagine."

I tried not to look disgusted at all of the bullshit pouring from Finn's mouth. Sam listened attentively, but he had a similar look of caution on his face.

"Sounds pretty fun," he said courteously.

"Oh, it is," Finn went on. "We really help each other here. Like, my brother, Kurt-" he looked over his shoulder, to where Kurt had apparently finished being inducted as a _full member_ and was currently talking excitedly to Quinn, Mercedes and Rachel, "he's been bullied a lot for being gay, you know? And I can't be there all the time to protect him. But now that he's one of _us_, it won't be _just_ _me_ that's looking out for him- every member of the club has his back. And that's just how we are. We take care of our own."

"Like a gang," I compared, somewhat sassily. There had to be some catch. No group was that perfect- nobody just did stuff out of the goodness of their hearts, did they?

Finn shrugged. "Yeah, but without all the violence and law-breaking. We're like, a gang for peace."

As lame as that sounded, Finn said it with so much commitment and enthusiasm that I actually bought it. I actually believed what he said. It didn't mean I wanted to _join_- but okay, maybe they weren't as creepy as I originally thought. Sam gave me a curious look and I shrugged. I think he was coming to the same conclusions I was.

"So," Sam said to Finn, "you guys just hang out _here _all the time?"

Finn nodded. "We have most of our meetings here. But every other Friday we meet at the Triple R. We're meeting there next week." His smile grew larger. "And sometimes we take trips out to the lake for a couple of days. We have barbecues, we go camping. It's really awesome and fun."

"It sounds a lot like Boy Scouts or something," Sam stated.

"It kind of is," Finn agreed. "Only for girls, too." He paused and looked over his shoulder again. "Hey, listen, I've got to go. We're having a full members meeting, and then Kurt's going to make his speech. I hope you guys will hang around for that."

Sam nodded and said good-bye to Finn. I just took another sip of punch, thankful to have something to distract myself with while I processed how I felt about this club.

After a while, Quinn rejoined me and we shared what we learned. She talked about what Rachel had told her about belonging, and taking care of each other, and it basically sounded exactly like what Finn had told me and Sam. I still wasn't completely sold on the club, but Quinn said she definitely wanted to go on an outing.

"We can go to the Triple R on Friday," Quinn said. "It'll be fun."

"I don't know, Q. I'm not really into this whole group love thing," I said hesitantly. "It still seems weird."

"I get it," Quinn said. "I won't go without you. But at least think about it, all right?"

"Why do you want to go, anyways?" I demanded. "Is being in some gay sorority really all that appealing to you?"

Quinn shrugged, dropping her eyes to the side. She looked sad for a moment. "I don't know, I just- it would be nice to be part of something as positive as this." I blinked at her, withholding the sarcastic comment I would've usually dropped on her for saying something so lame. I realized she was having a rare moment of vulnerability, of honesty, and I couldn't bring myself to diss her.

I sighed. "All right. If it means that much to you, we'll go to the Triple R on Friday. But I'm not becoming a _full member_, got it?"

Quinn smirked at me. "Deal."

We stayed to listen to Kurt's speech, which was basically a reiteration of what Rachel and Finn had preached to us. New Directions changed his life for the better, gave him a sense of purpose, blah, blah, blah. He went on to talk about how grateful he was to be a part of something important, and he hoped that those of us searching for meaning in our lives would consider the benefits of joining New Directions for themselves.

I listened warily, taking everything he said with a grain of salt. (What does that even mean?)

Quinn listened intently, and I could already sense that she was definitely on the road to becoming a _full member _of New Directions- and I wasn't sure if I was happy about that or not.

* * *

"Hey, you made it," Finn greeted me, grinning hugely.

I smiled sweetly at him. He didn't need to know it was fake. "Yeah. Is Quinn here?"

Finn nodded and pointed to the wooden floor. "She's over there, talking to Rachel."

My stomach dropped. Quinn was certainly spending a lot of time with Rachel.

I thanked Finn and went to go get my skates from the skate booth. It was the following Friday, and Quinn had texted me and told me to meet her at the Triple R for the New Directions meeting. I hadn't been to a meeting since the previous Friday, nor had I really spoken to Quinn much. She'd been dealing with some family problems lately, which she'd told me about in a hushed whisper at Cheerios practice Wednesday night, and with her confession came the sudden understanding of why Quinn would want to join New Directions.

Quinn found me as I was lacing up my skates.

"Hey, you made it," she said, smiling.

I nodded. "That's what everyone keeps telling me."

She plopped down next to me on the bench. "I'm gonna do it."

I paused to look at her incredulously. "Do what?" I snapped. She didn't mean-

"I'm gonna become a _full member_."

"You can't be serious," I hissed. "Q, you've only been to two meetings!"

"Three, counting this one," she corrected, narrowing her eyes at me. "I thought you'd be happy for me."

"I _am_ happy for you, I just think you're making a rash decision-"

"God, it's _just a club_, Santana. It's not like I can't quit if I don't like it."

I took a deep breath. It _was_ just a club. Why was I getting so upset about Quinn joining a club? Was it because of Matt's warning? Admittedly, New Directions _did_ rub me the wrong way- _wanky_- but I hadn't actually proven there was anything wrong with it yet. Was that why I was so against it? Because it was so positive and supposedly uplifting?

"You're right," I sighed. "It's just a club. And I'm glad you're so motivated to join."

Quinn nodded, but she still glared at me. "Right," she said angrily. She let her breath out quickly. "I just think it would be good for me," she said, her voice softening.

I shrugged. "Maybe it will be. Who knows."

Quinn offered me a smile, and we reached a truce. I stood up on my skates.

"Now let's go have fun, okay?"

Quinn nodded, and we skated around for a while. Finn and Rachel took turns coming over to skate with us. At one point Kurt came over to talk to Quinn, and I had to admit that I sort of had a good time. Unbelievably, we ran into Mike at the concession stand, and I was genuinely surprised.

"What're you doing here?" I asked incredulously.

Mike smiled at me. "I'm becoming a_ full member_ today."

"What?"

"That's great, Mike," Quinn said with a triumphant smirk, giving me a pointed look. I shook my head in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it," Mike went on. "Tina's been talking about it for a while, and she's a _full member_." He nodded towards the left, and we looked to see Tina laughing with Kurt and Rachel. They looked like they were having the time of their lives. "I finally decided it was time, you know? I really like her, and it's something she's passionate about. So I figured, why not, right? It can't hurt."

"I guess not," I muttered.

The lady behind the counter handed Mike his soda, and he turned back to us. "Quinn, Santana- it was great seeing you. Maybe I'll see you around, huh?"

"Definitely." Quinn nodded.

I just watched him go. Maybe I'd been wrong about this club. If someone like Mike was joining, it couldn't be that bad, right? I mean, Mike was popular. Finn was popular. Quinn was planning on joining. Maybe this club really was all it claimed to be.

I just had to figure out how to shake off the edgy feeling that came over me whenever I thought about it.

* * *

"So, tonight's the night, huh?" Sam asked me. It was the following Tuesday, and we were back at the old Community Center.

I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for coming- I'm sure it means a lot to her, you know?"

Sam nodded, too. "Of course. I mean, Quinn's my ex, but I still care about her. And so does Mercedes." He looked over at Wheezy, who was talking to Kurt across the room. Sam sighed. "I think she's thinking of becoming a _full member_. Especially now that Quinn's doing it, and Kurt's one."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't know," Sam admitted. "I just can't get over this weird feeling, like- remember what Matt said? About being a _part_ of something?" I nodded. "I don't want to be a _part._ I guess I just want to be me."

"I have the same feeling," I said. "I've been to a few meetings, but I just can't shake the bad vibes I'm getting, even though they've done nothing to earn them."

"Yo, losers," Puck greeted as he sidled up to me.

I rolled my eyes. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Woah, calm the attitude," Puck said defensively. "Rachel invited me. And I'm here for the same reason you are- to support Quinn's bad decision to join Nude Erections."

I laughed at his joke, but something he said caught in my mind. "You think it's a bad decision, too?"

Puck shrugged nonchalantly. "Why anyone would want to be part of this lame-ass club is beyond me. I mean, they do volunteer work down at the Hospice for the Elderly. I can't go in there without crying like a little bitch. And I'm a badass."

I shook my head. "What are you even talking about?"

"I'm saying, I'm not down with all the shit they do for the community out of the goodness of their hearts. It's no good for my image."

I huffed. "Your image isn't as great as you think it is."

Puck moved closer to me, smirking. "That's not what you were saying the other night-"

"Have I mentioned the kick in the groin you'll be receiving if you touch me?"

Puck raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Jeez."

Just then, Quinn came over, bouncing with energy. It was so unlike her.

"Hey, Puck," she said softly. "Thanks for coming."

"Anytime, babe."

Quinn looked at me, and I forced a smile. "You nervous?" I asked, and she nodded.

"You'll be fine," Sam encouraged.

"Quinn?" Rachel called from a doorway on the other side of the room. She smiled widely, and Quinn released a breath.

"Here goes," she said.

"Good luck," I said, and Quinn smiled at me before she turned and made her way over to the door, and Rachel. I watched as Rachel put her hand on Quinn's shoulder, her face lighting up as she led Quinn through the doorway and out of sight.

"I wonder why they don't let us watch the induction," Sam said.

Huh. That was strange. I guess I hadn't thought about that before.

"We could always go spy on them," Puck suggested, his expression mischievous.

I laughed. "You think they would let us back there?"

"We don't have to be let back there," Puck said. "I know another way. Before this place was occupied I used to sneak in here all the time."

I grimaced at him. "For what?"

"I'd rather not relive those memories," Puck said. "Come on."

Sam gave me a puzzled look, but we followed Puck as he made his way out of the main room and into the lobby of the center. Then he took a right and led us out of a side door. Outside the door there were woods, and there wasn't even a path or anything. It obviously hadn't been used in a long time.

"Follow me," Puck said confidently as he cut a path to the right, paralleling the building.

"Puck, I swear to God," I growled angrily as I stepped daintily over fallen branches and piles of dead plants. Eventually we came to the back of the building, and Puck reached down behind a bush and pulled up a half-rusted crowbar. He walked over to the back door and in one deft movement, he popped the door open.

Sam blinked. "Okay, I'm not gonna ask why you can do that so easily."

Puck shrugged. "I told you, dude- I used to come here all the time." He didn't drop the crowbar, and I raised an eyebrow.

"And what are you planning to do with that?"

"Security."

I rolled my eyes. Like Puck was going to do anything with a rusty old crowbar. What did he expect we were going to find? Thugs?

We made our way through the pried-open door and into the dimly-lit hall. The sound of voices talking clued us in to where we needed to go, and we followed the noise, turning corners until we reached the hall across from the door where we assumed Quinn was. Around the corner facing the far end, Finn was standing, obviously guarding the hall from anyone who would be entering from the main room. But he wasn't expecting anyone to come in the opposite direction- I guess I had to give Puck some credit.

We snuck past the hall where he was standing and made it to the door of Quinn's induction room. It had a window in it, but none of us wanted to stand in front of the window- that was the quickest way to be spotted by the people inside. We quietly tried to listen to see if we could hear anything.

That's when everything went to hell.

"What the hell is that?" Quinn demanded, but her voice held an obvious note of fear in it.

I didn't catch what the man in the room said, but I did hear Quinn's sharp, "No!" and Rachel's soothing, "Come on, now, Quinn, it's-"

"NO!" Quinn repeated, and the three of us, who'd been growing tenser by the second, decided we'd heard enough.

We peeked into the window, and I felt my stomach drop. A man was trying to force Quinn into some kind of chair- it had shackles on it. "What the fuck?" I hissed.

"Oh, _fuck_ no," Puck agreed, and on that note, he shouldered the door open with a bang.

"That's enough, pathetic human-" the man was saying as he tried to restrain an actively struggling Quinn, but he paused at Rachel's dramatic gasp.

Quinn turned to look at us. "Santana!" She struggled some more. "Puck! Sam! A little help here?"

I stood, gaping, but Sam snapped into action. He charged forward quickly, slamming into the guy who was restraining Quinn, sending him flying. Quinn snapped up, but one of her wrists was already snapped into one of the shackles. She quickly began to unfasten it as another man, who'd been standing off to the right, raised a weapon that looked an awful lot like a _gun,_ but-

TSEEEW!

A red beam shot out of the end of it and hit Sam.

And then Sam was just- gone. He was _gone_.

_Sam was gone._

"Oh, my God," someone whimpered. I think it was me.

Puck swung his crowbar, hitting the man with the weird gun in the jaw. The man went staggering into some kind of low metal tank that looked like a kiddy pool- it had sludgy gray water in it that splashed up when the man fell into it. I stood and watched in shocked horror. _Sam-_

"Time to go," Puck said tensely. He grabbed Quinn's arm as Quinn finished releasing her other wrist from the shackle.

"Stop!" Rachel demanded. I saw the man with the laser gun climb to his knees, dripping wet. I looked around wildly for something to throw- there was a bottle of water on the table next to me. I picked it up and hurled it at him just as he aimed the laser gun at Puck and Quinn.

TSEEEW!

Another red beam fired, barely missing them, and they charged towards me and the door.

"Go!" Puck bellowed, and I turned, tearing down the hall.

Straight into Finn.

Finn grabbed my arms. "Where do you think you're going?" He barked.

THWACK!

Puck's fist came flying into Finn's jaw, and Finn stumbled back, releasing me.

Shit, shit, shit.

We ran down the hall, but now every person in the building had been alerted to our presence.

I spied Kurt- he had one of the laser guns in his hand, he was aiming it at us- we were going to _die,_ just like Sam-

And then, randomly, the ground began to shake.

"What the fuck is going on?" I screamed as I lost my footing and crashed to the ground.

Red beams were firing everywhere, but incredibly, none of them managed to hit us. Holes burned into walls, white dust from exploded sheetrock rained down on us as we lay sprawled on the carpet in the hall.

I began to crawl quickly towards the door. The ground was still shaking, but not continuously. It sounded like-

"Bombs!" Puck yelled. "Someone's dropping bombs outside!"

"We've gotta get out of here," Quinn shouted, looking completely shaken. I'm sure I looked the same.

_Sam-_

A piece of the ceiling broke free and crumbled behind us. More red beams crisscrossed in the hallway. People were screaming. Smoke from burned wood and sheetrock filled the air above our heads. I coughed. I crawled faster.

We finally made it to the back door, and I felt terror completely overtaking me at what I saw.

The sky was black with smoke, and above our heads, a huge, alien spaceship- I'm not fucking playing here, a fucking _spaceship_- blocked out the sun. It looked kind of like a mushroom- it had a long part with a huge glass bubble, or dome, on top of it.

And it was firing repeatedly into the ground. I blinked- was I dreaming? Was I fucking dreaming? Sam- a _spaceship_-

That explained the earthquakes. Buildings were exploding. Alarms were going off. Sirens were blaring. People everywhere were screaming. The school down the street was on fire, and I suddenly realized that I was shaking so badly I could hardly stand.

"It's like _War of the Worlds_," Quinn whispered, and I felt panic overtaking me.

"Run," Puck muttered. "We've gotta run!"

I didn't hesitate. I tore out of there.

But I couldn't escape what I had just witnessed.

* * *

We ran and ran and ran until we couldn't anymore. All three of us were athletic, so we didn't have to stop for a while, and the adrenaline and fear definitely helped, but after a while we just collapsed, gasping and trembling. It was a horrifying run- every step we took was through a scene straight out of an Apocalypse movie. Bodies littered the streets. The roads were ripped up and blocked by smashed up cars. Buildings were black, charred, crumbling- or else still burning. Sirens still wailed in the distance, but it was chaos.

We made it back to me and Puck's neighborhood, only to witness even more devastation. All of the houses were destroyed. A huge, smoking, newly-made crater occupied the space where houses had been two streets down from mine. We paused under a tree that was incredibly still standing and caught our breath.

"Am I awake right now?" I panted, bent over with my hands resting on my knees. I was winded and scared. Not a good combination. "Tell me I'm not awake right now."

Quinn shook her head back and forth from where she was sitting under the tree. "We're all awake. But I can't even fathom what's happening." She looked up at Puck, who was standing tall, trying to be strong. He was out of breath, too. "What's happening?"

Puck pressed his lips together into a thin line and shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted quietly. "I don't know what the fuck is going on."

We were quiet for a long moment, and then I spoke. "We need a plan. We need to figure out what happened."

Puck nodded. "Quinn- what went down at that meeting?"

Quinn shrugged her shoulders, her expression hardening. "They wanted to put something- some _thing_- in my head," she said bitterly.

"A thing?" I asked.

"Some kind of slug-looking thing."

"Like a fucking _alien_?" Puck said, and suddenly I started to get a clearer picture of what was going on. I still didn't believe any of it, it was just too fucking crazy. But at least it started to fit together.

"There was a spaceship back there," I said slowly. Puck and Quinn nodded. They'd seen it, too. "Do you think New Directions is like," I paused to laugh slightly, because the idea was just too ridiculous, "some kind of alien organization?"

Puck and Quinn didn't answer, but their silence said it all. We didn't know what the fuck was going on, but we had definitely all seen a spaceship- Quinn had definitely almost had some kind of alien slug placed in her head- and our entire town had definitely just been destroyed. I didn't know how we three were alive.

Sam-

I choked back a sudden sob, shaking my head quickly. I couldn't think about that, not now. We needed a plan, or we were not going to survive.

"Here's what I think," Puck said suddenly. He looked at each of us. "We can't trust anyone." Quinn and I blinked at him, and he sighed. "Look- if they were going to make you a full member by putting a slug in your brain, Quinn, that means all of the other full members have slugs, too, right?"

Oh, shit. I hadn't thought of that. That meant Rachel- Kurt- Finn- they were all-

"And we didn't even know they had them, right?" Puck demanded. "Which means there's no way for us to tell if anyone has them or not. We can't trust anyone. Not even our families."

His words sent a chill down my spine. _Not even our families_. Our families- were they even still alive?

I processed for a moment. Were my parents dead? That spaceship was destroying everything. If Dad was at the hospital- if Mom was at the office-

I shook my head again. Can't think about that. First things first. "We need supplies," I said suddenly. "We can't stay in our houses. Surely the military is mobilizing by now. They'll set up camps, like in _Cloverfield_ or something. We can go to one of those camps."

"Unless the military is on the _slugs'_ side," Puck retorted. "This is serious."

I released my breath. Fuck.

We really were on our own.

* * *

We decided we couldn't split up. Ever. If one of us got separated, we had no way of knowing if we had been infested or not while we were gone. So we very slowly and carefully made our way to the remains of Puck's house so he could pack a bag from whatever wasn't completely destroyed. Next on the list was my house. Quinn's house was too far out of the way- she didn't live in our neighborhood- so we decided she could just pack a bag from my house.

We reached Puck's house and surveyed the damage. The house was completely caved in, and parts of it were burned, but Puck managed to carefully pick through the pile of rubble to get to the window on the second floor, which was now the first floor. I held my breath, dreading what he'd find. What if his mom had been home? What if his little sister, Esther, had?

Puck peeked in through the window, then shook his head. Then he hopped back down to the ground. "It's no use," he said, frustrated. "The whole inside is a fucking mess. There's no way there's anything useful in there." He looked at me. "Do you want to try your house?"

I shook my head. "I doubt mine will be much better. We'll probably have more luck raiding a store or something. There's got to be one that's not totally destroyed."

Puck took a deep breath. "I think everyone has that idea."

Quinn, who'd been quiet up to that point, sighed. "We don't have a choice. We need food."

Yeah. We needed food. I just wasn't looking forward to what we might have to do to get it.

* * *

We made our way carefully to the center of town- or what was left of it, anyways. Most of the fires had burned out, leaving thin wisps of smoke rising into the darkened sky. The explosions had stopped in the immediate vicinity, but I could see flashes of blue light in the distance- the huge spaceship had moved on to the next city. I shivered.

I had tried to prepare myself for what we might encounter in the center of town, but I don't think anything could've prepared me for what we actually found. Have you ever seen a news reel of a riot on TV? It was like that, only the people rioting were smeared with dirt and soot, their clothes were ripped, and many of them were covered in blood or sporting fresh wounds. It was total chaos. People were going crazy- I inched closer to Puck. Quinn slid her hand in mine, holding it tightly. I clenched my jaw, and the three of us stepped over piles of rubble, maneuvered around fallen, dead bodies or random limbs, and avoided eye contact with anyone. When we reached a convenience store that looked relatively untouched- the store front had iron bars on the front of it, which deterred people from breaking in, I guess they chose the quicker, easier places first- Puck quickened his step and led us around back.

Again, his skills proved useful- he managed to jimmy the back door open, and we entered the building.

Part of the ceiling had caved in, so the shelves had been knocked over, but most of the merchandise was still decent. At the front entrance, there was a small rotating display that held small canvas satchels- and I couldn't believe how lucky we were. I snatched up most of them- they were small enough that we could each carry two- and passed them out to Quinn and Puck.

Then, we carefully and quickly began picking through the food and other random things in the store. Puck snatched up a handful of lighters from the counter. Quinn filled an entire bag with bottles of water. I avoided chips and snacks in favor of protein and power bars. We each quickly ate a sandwich from the refrigerated display that was no longer working. The sandwich was room temperature, but it wasn't spoiled yet. We tucked another one in our bags for later.

We grabbed a few more things- a first aid kit, a pocket knife from the glass display, a handful of slim jims- and then we carefully snuck out the back door. It had gotten darker, but the lights in the distance coupled with the glowing embers of the dying fires nearby cast enough light that we were able to make our way through the streets.

We set out in a direction. We didn't want to go towards the lights of the spaceship, but we had to walk to the next town. Maybe we could find help there. For the most part, we managed to avoid people- that is, until we reached the downtown area. It was in even worse shape than the center of town.

A smashed up police car was parked in the center of the road. Groups of people were cheering, screaming, waving baseball bats. Every single building was destroyed.

I had a very, very bad feeling.

"Hey- where you going?" some guy called.

"Yeah, where _are_ you going?" another guy chimed in from next to him. We ignored them.

It didn't stop them. They followed us, chuckling.

"What's in the bag?"

"I bet they got money in there."

"Is that true, sweet lady? You got money in that bag that you're not sharing with us?"

"What the hell good would money do?" Quinn snarled, and I closed my eyes briefly. Fuck.

"Oh, she speaks!"

"Come give me a kiss!" The man reached out and grabbed Quinn by the arm. I felt my fight or flight instinct kicking into overdrive. I tensed, preparing myself.

"Go fuck yourself," Quinn hissed, yanking her arm out of his grasp.

"You hear that, Jesse? She wants to fuck you!"

"I bet she does-"

Puck was suddenly in the guy's face, holding a knife to his throat. "Get the fuck away from her," he snarled.

"Oh, shit! Mohawk thinks he's tough!"

Puck stepped back as another guy came up behind him. Now there were three guys circling him, and at least five more people who were perched near the edges of buildings, watching with sick interest. I was terrified. My heart was pounding. My breath was speeding up. No way were we going to make it out of this alive.

The first guy, Jesse or whatever, grabbed Puck's jacket-

THWACK!

Puck hit him in the face, and he staggered back, but the second guy jumped forward, and suddenly it was like everything went to shit. The roar of six people rushing our little group filled my ears, and I felt my pulse skyrocketing.

We were going to die.

One of the guys reached for me, and I shoved him off. Puck took a punch to the stomach, dropping his bag to the ground. A skinny, roughed-up bitch dove for the bag and Quinn pushed her, trying to protect our supplies. Puck kicked one guy in the balls, earned a punch to his eye- Quinn grabbed another girl's shirt and threw her to the street-

Someone hit me in the side of the head, disorienting me, and I felt dizzy for a moment. I stared hard at the ground, and my eyes focused on a piece of metal pipe-

I snatched it up, turned, and swung hard, hitting some guy in the face. I heard the crack of his jaw- or his nose- or his entire skull- breaking, his face shattering. Blood flew from it and he fell down, screaming. Everywhere was screaming. Maybe I was screaming.

I saw blood- a flash of Puck's knife- the smack of Quinn's palm hitting someone- and a searing pain in my temple. I swung the pipe again, breaking someone's kneecap. Someone grabbed me from behind and I elbowed them in the ribs. Once they released me they got real friendly with my metal pipe when I slammed it into their ribs, but not before they hit me in the head, and I stumbled, tripped-

I fell onto all fours, scraping the fuck out of my bare knees. I was bleeding, panting, but I was still alive. I lifted my head up-

And stopped.

There, in the alley, was an alien.

And she was looking at me.

She looked like a centaur, only she was lavender. I couldn't see most of her, because she was standing in shadows. But her eyes were blue, and I felt like they were piercing into my soul.

When our eyes met, I gasped. I forgot I had just been fighting for my life. I forgot that Puck and Quinn were probably still fighting for their lives a few feet away. I forgot everything, except how blue and mesmerizing the alien's eyes were.

"Wh- who are you?"

The alien's eyes shifted, and I realized for the first time that she didn't have a mouth. How was she going to answer me?

_[I- I no longer know who I am,] _the alien said sadly, in a silent voice that filled my mind. I shivered involuntarily. _[I have forsaken myself.]_

I felt my heart clenching at her sadness, but I had no idea why I cared so much. She was an _alien_. Aliens had just destroyed my city- destroyed my way of life- destroyed everything- so why did I give a fuck that she was having an identity crisis?

I didn't answer, only stared into her eyes for a moment longer, my heart pounding. What was going on?

Puck snatched me up. "Come on!"

He hauled me to my feet and tugged me after him, and I tossed one last look wildly over my shoulder at the alien as I followed Puck, her blue eyes burned into my mind forever.

My heart was still pounding, even after I lost sight of her to the shadows. I had no idea who she was, but somehow, something was nagging me, telling me not to leave her there, devastated and alone.

I kept running.

* * *

We backtracked through the path of destruction for days. It just went on and on. It was exactly like every Apocalypse movie I'd ever seen. I guess the Mayans were right- 2012 was the end of the world- well, minus the zombies. I hadn't seen any of those yet. We had aliens instead. We mostly managed to avoid other survivor groups by staying away from towns. We spent our nights huddled together, taking turns watching out for hostile survivors or aliens.

I hadn't told Puck or Quinn about the alien centaur I'd seen- but her blue eyes haunted my dreams. I thought for sure I was losing it, but I couldn't get her out of my thoughts. What was wrong with me? Was I going crazy?

I mean, we each had our separate mental breakdowns- we'd just lived through the worst trauma ever, and every day was a struggle not to just curl into a ball and cry, but the three of us were determined, strong-willed people. We weren't just going to give up and die.

After days though, we were running out of food. And we were going to have to make another trip into town. This time, we stashed what was left of our supplies under a deserted car before we walked down the street. The town looked like it had been freshly destroyed- which confused me to no end, because I was pretty certain that we had been walking in the opposite direction of where the aliens seemed to be going. But the destruction was endless. Then again, there was probably more than one ship- I was kind of dumb to think one ship of aliens was going to take on Earth by itself.

Unfortunately, in the end, it wasn't aliens we had to worry about- it was our own kind. We had just finished picking through the rubble of what was once a grocery store- we hadn't found much, only a few cans of vegetables- when a _lot_ of menacing shadows fell over us.

It's funny how the smallest, most unimportant things will bring out the worst in people- like, people who kill each other over toys at Christmas or whatever. I mean, I read _Lord of the Flies_. Is that really how people are without civilized society?

We weren't prepared to fight over a few cans of vegetables, but even when we gave them up, the people who had advanced on us weren't backing down. Puck brandished his knife, but the vicious-looking gang didn't look worried in the slightest. I swallowed.

I guess some people are animals even _with_ civilized society.

The guy at the front smiled and raised his arm. He was holding a gun.

We turned to run, but-

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Puck dropped. He wasn't dead- but there was no way we were getting out of there with him, he was definitely down. Two guys advanced on him- his eyes widened with fear before he screamed, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

I ran. Quinn followed. I felt terror taking me over as my legs flew, carrying me from there as fast as possible- carrying me from Puck-

WHUMP!

Quinn cried out as she tripped and hit the ground. I stopped, grabbed her arm, dragged her to her feet.

"Come on!" I screamed, my voice sounding terrified to my own ears. My heart was pounding. I was definitely going to die early from stress if I made it out of this-

BANG!

Quinn grabbed my arm tightly. She looked at me, and her hazel eyes were filled with tears.

And then I felt blood on my shoulder. Blood from the bullet hole in Quinn's head.

"Oh, God," I wailed. I choked back a sob. I dropped Quinn. I had no choice.

I turned to run again, but I lost my footing as the ground rumbled. Again?! Did these aliens not give up?

A flash of blue, and the ground next to me exploded, chunks of rock, pavement, dirt and rubble spraying over me. A huge chasm appeared, the ground split open- the blue flash stopped, then reappeared a few yards away. The ground rumbled again, and I felt myself sliding into the chasm.

"No!" I screamed, clawing at the ground, but it wasn't solid- there was nothing to grab. I kept trying, but I was losing, slipping on the dirt, slipping into the blackness-

I closed my eyes, braced myself-

* * *

I opened my eyes. It was dark. I was standing in total blackness, but I was standing. I was alive. What was going on? I looked around, confused, but I couldn't see anything. And then- a small, blue light appeared. And somehow I knew that it was the way out of the blackness. Don't ask me how.

I moved towards it. It felt- warm. Familiar. And suddenly, I was right in front of it.

I reached out to touch it, but something stopped me. I felt- _something_- weighing on me. Something heavy. Something that warned me not to touch it. But what else could I do? I had almost died- Sam- Quinn- Puck- they had all died- and I was alone. I was _alone_.

What else could I do?

I had no choice.

**THERE'S ALWAYS A CHOICE.**

I reached out to the light, and closed my eyes.

* * *

I opened my eyes. It was dark. Had I slept? I couldn't remember.

I sat up, and suddenly everything came flooding back to me- the battle at the new Community Center, my wild accusation that Sugar had set us up. I had gone to bed hurt, angry, shaken. Kurt- I had really upset him, hadn't I? And Brittany-

I looked over next to me, next to the bed, where Brittany was standing in her natural form. Asleep.

Quietly, I got out of bed and slipped my arms around her waist, laying my head against her flat, velvet-soft chest. It probably wasn't the brightest move, considering she could decapitate me with the slightest twitch of her tail, but I didn't think about that when I acted on impulse.

I felt her arms slide around me, and I squeezed her tighter.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered against her skin.

She stroked my hair gently_. [You know I always forgive you, Santana,]_ she said softly. _[But I'm not the one you should apologize to.]_ I nodded against her chest and took a deep breath.

"I know."

* * *

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I paused. It was quiet. I raised my fist again.

BANG! BANG! B-

The door opened, and Kurt blinked at me sleepily. He raised a dainty, sculpted eyebrow. "Any reason you're at my door at four in the morning?" he asked skeptically.

I shifted nervously and took a deep breath. "Yes," I said firmly.

"Kurt?" Blaine's voice called from inside the room. He appeared in the doorway, and Kurt placed his hand on Blaine's shoulder. "Oh- hi, Santana," he said, sounding less-than-enthused to see me. I swallowed.

"Come to the entertainment room."

Kurt and Blaine followed me to the entertainment room, where Sam, Mercedes, Quinn, Arty, and Brittany were already waiting.

"What's this all about?" Arty demanded. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm still exhausted from our fight earlier."

"Praise," Mercedes agreed grumpily.

I moved to the center of the room. "Look, I'll get right to the point," I said sharply. One by one, I met everyone's eyes. And I took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Kurt said quietly.

"I'm sorry," Blaine agreed.

One by one, we all apologized to each other.

Mercedes wiped away a tear. "I'm sorry, you guys," she finished.

Sam wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close. Then Quinn moved in and hugged her other side, and then Kurt joined in, then Arty, and then Blaine, and finally, Quinn reached out and tugged me into the mess, and I looked at Brittany expectantly.

She shrugged her human shoulders in confusion and moved forward, and I wrapped my free arm that wasn't around everyone else around her, pulling her against me. I kissed her temple.

"I take it back," I said softly, seriously. "I need you. All of you."

"And we need you," Sam returned. "We all need each other."

Quinn nodded. "We can't give up."

"No way," Mercedes agreed. "We have to win this war."

"And we will," Kurt said determinedly. "Because we have each other."

"That was so _gay_."

Kurt shoved me, and I laughed.

* * *

**Yeah, so. If you're confused about how that even happened, you're kind of supposed to be. Just go with it, I guess.**

**So before I forget- this chapter's plot is actually based off of the _Animorphs_ side-book, _Megamorphs_ (lololol) #4. There were two plots I debated covering- this one, and "what if the _Yeerks_ win the war?" alternate reality plot from #41, but in the end, I chose this storyline because- well, _Glee_ did, and I wanted to parallel it I guess. **

**Review if you have any comments, or just want to tell me how crazy this chapter was, I love hearing from you guys. :) I hope it was as fun and intense to read as it was for me to write.**

**See you next Monday with another crazy storyline! :D**

**Take care, pals! And ship Brittana!**


	28. Split

**HI EVERYONE.**

**Sorry this chapter took so long. Been working like 60 hours a week and then I was deep in my Brittana feels. .-. And plus, this chapter, as usual, was waaaay longer than I wanted, and so I had to split it up into two. **

**Hopefully it's not too confusing; but it's going to get a little intense and crazy and hurtful, so uh- hold out for the resolution next chapter, okay? **

**As usual, thank you so much to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, favorited, loved, and hated the last chapter! I really appreciate all of you, from the bottom of my little heart. :')**

**Remember, the story is rated M for a reason! Use caution, you kids! ;)**

* * *

I stifled a yawn as I hunched over my cereal bowl, eating mindlessly. I was still beyond exhausted from the fight at the new Community Center two days ago, but what else is new. Exhaustion was just a normal part of the routine- and it didn't matter. The Yeerks weren't going to stop infesting people just because we were tired- and because of that, Sam had decided we needed to regroup and come up with a new strategy to get into the new Community Center. Because that's obviously high on my list of places I wanted to return to.

Just another day in paradise.

The pressure of Brittany's left hand in my right hand kept me grounded and calm, despite the uneasiness I was feeling about having to return to the Community Center. I let my thumb make absent circles on hers, and she beamed at me over her own bowl of Lucky Charms from her seat beside me at the kitchen island.

I looked up as Sam entered the room. When our eyes met, he smiled hesitantly at me and moved to fix himself- what else- Pop Tarts. I kept eating my cereal. Quinn wandered in next, looking, if possible, more fatigued and unkempt than me, and she plopped down in the seat across from mine, reaching for the box of Honey Nut Cheerios and pouring some into her hand, not bothering with a bowl or milk or anything.

We all sat and ate in silence, listening to the crunch of our respective foods in our mouths. It was too early to be up. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and sleep forever. Preferably with Brittany curled around me. I squeezed her hand briefly at the thought.

Eventually, Mercedes came in with her parents, and they chatted about light-hearted stuff. Mercedes' dad told her about how he was still attempting to run his dentist practice from down in the _Batcave_ via the internet by telling his patients he was on a mission trip in some third world country. I tried not to roll my eyes, and instead reached inside me to find some well-hidden empathy. All of our parents' lives had been uprooted, and, unlike us, they didn't spend all of their time turning into animals and planning insane, dangerous missions. They sat around in the _Batcave_- with _Sugar_ (shudder)- and did nothing all day. They couldn't go to work. They couldn't leave the _Batcave_. They weren't backpacking across Sweden.

I think I'd have cabin fever if that was my life. I had to give them a lot of credit.

I lifted another spoonful of cereal to my mouth-

"AAAAAAAAIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!"

-and promptly dropped it when the loudest, most annoying shriek in the history of screaming scared the bejesus out of me- mostly because I wasn't expecting it. It sounded close, like, on-the-other-side-of-the-kitchen-wall close, and I couldn't help the way my whole body was suddenly on edge at the sound.

I looked at Sam, who had stood up rigidly and was clenching his jaw. Just as he was about to go investigate, Sugar came sweeping in, looking calm. She didn't say anything, and instead, just went straight for the pantry.

I waited a beat for her to address the scream, but she didn't. When another bloodcurdling shriek rang out, but quieter, I lost the last bit of my patience. "What the fuck is that?" I bristled.

Sugar turned from the pantry. She waved her hand at me. "Oh, not to worry. That's just Lauren."

"Why is she _screaming_?" Sam asked, his voice low. I could tell he was stressed out by the sound.

"Oh- _Lauren's_ not screaming, dear God, no!" Sugar laughed airily. She turned back around to the pantry, snatched up a box of white chocolate-covered pretzels, and then faced us again, holding the box in one hand and digging her other hand inside it. "You see," she waved a pretzel at us, "we were finally able to discover the little weasel who sold us out to the rest of the Yeerks." She ate the pretzel, made a face and then looked at the box. "These aren't goldfish."

"You were sold out?" Brittany asked, her eyes wide and fascinated as she spooned more cereal into her mouth.

Sugar nodded as she searched through the pantry, picking up boxes and shifting them around. "Yes. Ken figured out that it was Terri. She gave Visser Seven's minions access to my forcefield controls, which is how they managed to shut them off and completely destroy my entire property. Ah-ha!" She turned around triumphantly, holding a box of rainbow-colored goldfish.

I blinked at her. She seemed way too calm for someone talking about their mansion and possessions and everything else being completely demolished by a double-crosser. Then I tried to remember if I knew who Terri was, but nothing was coming to mind.

"The tour guide," Sam said suddenly. He looked at me and continued, "She was the tour guide from when we snuck in to the property the first time."

I nodded. Sugar gave Sam a _well, duh_ look, like that wasn't completely obvious information.

"So what does Lauren have to do with Terri?" Quinn asked, bringing the conversation back on topic.

Sugar scooped up a handful of colorful goldfish and popped them into her mouth. "She's taking care of Terri," she said when she was done chewing.

"'Taking care of'?" Mercedes asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sugar smiled icily at her. Another scream echoed through the kitchen, but it ended abruptly.

I shivered. I did not want to think about what that meant.

* * *

"My question is: why haven't we seen more people dropping in the streets?" Arty demanded. "We destroyed the Kandrona- and it's been more than three days."

"Right. You would think destroying their food source and all, Yeerks would die, and people would go free," Blaine agreed.

"Makes sense," Sam said.

"No, it doesn't," Sugar said with a roll of her eyes. "The Yeerks are more subtle than that, moron. Visser Seven has been shuffling his most important people back and forth to the Mother Ship, and the replacement Kandrona-"

"Woah, woah, hold up- _replacement_?" I asked with a glare.

"Yeah, duh. Did you think there was only one, ever?"

"Well, the alloy Brittany mentioned-" Mercedes started.

"-is extremely _common_ throughout certain Yeerk-controlled parts of the galaxy," Sugar interrupted. Whoops. That was probably one of those times when we should've let Brittany finish explaining something.

"Anyways, it showed up yesterday, but many Yeerks still perished beforehand. And even more fell victim to the oatmeal madness."

I felt my stomach clench. I wasn't sure if Yeerks falling victim to oatmeal was a good thing or a bad thing- I remembered Sandy and how he would never be normal again, would never be completely free of his Yeerk. Would that be Sam's parents? Would that be Finn? How many desperate Yeerks would rather succumb to madness than die? Knowing the risks? Oatmeal was like a drug, and everyone always thinks _they_ won't get addicted. I wonder if Yeerks felt the same with the "it won't happen to me" line of thinking. They seemed arrogant enough.

Had we unknowingly condemned the people we cared about to a lifetime of madness?

"So we went through all that work for nothing," Blaine stated bitterly, interrupting my disturbing thoughts.

"Not _nothing_- it was a huge success," Sam reminded. "And we still destroyed the Kandrona."

"That resulted in nothing," I muttered.

"No, you definitely hurt them," Sugar argued. "There were many Yeerks who didn't have hosts- Yeerks in the Pool- that Visser Seven could not afford to save. It was a huge deal."

"I just wish we could see the effects a little more," Kurt said sadly. "It's hard to keep fighting when you feel like, no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you fight or how close you come to dying each time, at the end of the day, you've still accomplished nothing."

"Kurt-" I frowned, trying to think of what to say.

But, surprisingly, it was Brittany who reassured him. "It's never easy to keep fighting," she said quietly. "And a lot of times, just surviving is the best you can do. But in the end, even if we just survive, we're still slowing them down. We're still showing the Yeerks that we know about them, that we won't give in, that we are willing to fight and die for this planet. That means something."

"Britt's right," Quinn agreed. "Don't shortchange us- we've done a _lot_ of damage lately. We destroyed the aquarium."

"And we stopped Bieber from being infested," Blaine chimed in with a small smile.

"And I know we haven't seen the effects, but taking out that Kandrona was no small thing," Mercedes said, waving her finger sassily to make Kurt smile.

"Those are all true," he said. "But we still haven't managed to get Puck back, or anyone else we care about."

"What?" Sam asked with a grin. "We got _Quinn_."

Quinn smiled, too. "Yeah, and I'm completely offended that you don't care about me."

Kurt's smile grew a little bigger. "You know what I meant."

"Besides, we haven't actually made any plans specifically to get Puck back," I stated. I looked at Sam and raised my eyebrow expectantly.

Sam nodded. "One thing at a time. Let's take out the new Community Center. And then, once that's been shut down, we can figure out how we are going to liberate Puck. Sound good, Kurt?"

"Sounds perfect," Kurt answered.

And even I had to admit, talking about our successes really motivated me. We would get Puck back. We just had to figure out what was going on with the Community Center and shut it down. No big deal, right? I mean, we'd already almost died there, so that part was out of the way. Should be nothing but smooth sailing from now on.

No problem.

* * *

_[Guys, something doesn't feel right,]_ Mercedes said quietly. I paused in my slinking to look at her.

_[Does it _ever_ feel right? We're dealing with the Yeerks, here,]_ I pointed out.

_[True. This place just gives me the heebie-jeebies.]_

_ [What are heebie-jeebies?]_ Brittany asked.

_[The creeps, Britt,]_ I said.

_[It's like a bad feeling,]_ Quinn clarified. _[Like, that tingling sensation you get when you know something's about to happen, or things just feel weird.]_

_[Ah. Got it. I am experiencing that right now.]_

_ [I think we all are,] _Sam said_. [Keep your eyes open.]_

_ [And here I was planning on closing them,]_ I mumbled to myself. We were at the new Community Center, looking around downstairs in the basement. After our last attack on the place a few days ago, the Yeerks had boarded it up in order to get it cleaned. We had really trashed the place, and remnants of our horrifying battle still lingered in several rooms upstairs. Most of the dead bodies had been carted away, but the overwhelming stench of death and rotting things had seeped into every fiber of the building. Dried blood still coated the floor. It was nauseating. At times it didn't even feel real to me; I felt like I was in a haunted house and that all the decay upstairs was just fabricated to induce fear. Wishful thinking.

I shook my head, ridding myself of the sickening thoughts as I crept, in cheetah form, further into the darkness of the room, following Sam. Even as a cheetah, the hair on the back of my neck was on end and my tail was fluffed out. My whiskers were vibrating with something akin to anxiety, and my stomach was doing little nervous flips. I had no idea what to expect, but it definitely wasn't good. I remembered the ambush we had faced last time, and I sure as hell wasn't ready to deal with that again so soon- maybe _ever_.

_[There's a door,]_ Sam said from several feet in front of me.

_[How can you tell? It's pitch black in here,]_ I grumbled. _[I can barely see your outline.]_

_ [I can see just fine,]_ Arty said smugly. He was a tiger.

_[So can I- dick,]_ Quinn shot back, and I laughed a little at Quinn's slightly misplaced anger. She was just as scared as the rest of us, and it showed.

_[I- kind of ran into it,]_ Sam admitted sheepishly, answering my question. _[I can't see that well, either.]_

_[Well, let's check it out,]_ Kurt suggested. He was in wolf form, along with Blaine. Gay, right? But I guess Kurt had never really picked a specific avatar other than a bird- which, let's face it, wasn't a whole lot of help in a situation like the one we were in.

I heard Sam twist the handle on the door and yank it open, and I cringed at the stagnant, sterile, musty smell that assaulted my senses from the doorway. As if the smell wasn't enough, there was also a weird mix of sounds drifting in- a whirring, beeping, mechanical noise mixed with like, dripping water or squishing, I don't even know. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was.

Regardless, my cheetah didn't like it. At all. Especially when combined with the smell of decay and stale death already lingering. My cheetah instincts were on high alert.

_[I do _not_ want to go in there,]_ Blaine admitted. He whined and tugged himself back, stopping in his tracks.

_[I'm feeling the same way,]_ I agreed_. [Something feels seriously creepy.]_

_ [Well, we came here to find out what it is,]_ Sam said.

_[Some things are better left unknown,]_ Mercedes muttered darkly. It was silent for a moment while we all struggled to get a hold of our avatars' instincts, which were screaming at us not to enter that doorway and to run in the other direction, towards clean air.

_[Let's just go,]_ Arty said tightly, sounding about as stressed out as I felt.

Hissing, I forced myself to take steps towards the doorway. The scent and sounds grew stronger the closer I got, and my eyes darted nervously around, trying to pick out anything in the dark. My nose wrinkled in disgust, and the smell was so invading I could almost taste it on my tongue. Ugh.

_[There's stairs,]_ Sam reported from somewhere ahead of me.

_[Leading down into hell, probably,]_ I said, trying to lighten the mood, but unfortunately, it seemed like it was actually true.

I followed Sam's descent down the stairs. They were narrow and hemmed in by rough, concrete walls, and after about a full flight, they curved around and I could see a pale, green light in the distance, near the bottom. When I reached the floor behind Sam, I looked around.

_[Where are we?]_ Mercedes wondered from somewhere behind me.

_[In hell, probably.]_

_[It looks like some kind of- I don't know, like a laboratory,]_ Sam said as he took a few hesitant steps into the dimly-lit, wide, open room. And he wasn't wrong. I mean, before when I used to think of aliens, I used to think of UFOs and stainless steel tables and getting probed- yeah, yeah,_wanky_- and all that. And that's pretty much what the scenery of the laboratory was like-straight out of some cheesy _Unsolved Mysteries: UFO Edition_ episode or something.

There were definitely long, steel tables with different devices and tools I didn't recognize scattered across them. And yeah, they were probably used for _probing_. Okay, I admit- I can't say that without chuckling. Whatever.

Anyways, on the far side of the room, there were what looked like big, steel-

_[Are those cages?] _Quinn demanded, saying exactly what I was thinking.

Brittany nodded_. [It would seem so.]_

_ [Holy shit,] _I said, padding down a row of operating tables towards the cages. There were huge steel panels on the top and bottom, and pale green bars of what looked like electricity making up the sides. I knew they weren't actually electric- the hum they gave off was the same noise that came from every forcefield I'd ever encountered. As I got closer, I saw that the cages were occupied- with alien creatures. We slowly and cautiously approached the cages, and I looked inside the closest one. The thing inside- I don't even know, it looked like a giant yellow frog or whatever- was frozen. Like cryostasis or something, I guess; I don't know, like I watch science fiction movies? My _life_ is a science fiction movie, for fuck's sake.

_[Well I guess this explains where Puck got his _Kaftid_ form,] _Mercedes said from a few cages down, and I looked over, recognizing the eight-legged, acid-spitting alien monster Puck had transformed into at the aquarium. I shivered.

_[I guess so,]_ Sam agreed.

_[So, what- Visser Seven just has his own private alien zoo down in a basement under our Community Center?] _Kurt asked in disbelief, shaking his wolf head.

_[Is this real life?]_ I demanded, because seriously, things were just getting completely ridiculous the longer we fought this war.

Quinn laughed nervously beside me_. [I really hope Puck doesn't have _all_ of these alien forms.]_

_[Me either, but why else would they possibly be here? And why _wouldn't_ he acquire them, if given the chance?]_ I stated, running my eyes over the alien that was in the cage closest to me. If I had to compare it to a normal animal, I would say it was closest to a dragon. It was jet black, with two sets of huge, leathery wings. It had four separate heads, but instead of scales, it had shiny fur- like an otter's. It was weird, but even just looking at it, it instilled fear in me and exuded power. It was deadly, I just knew it. And that was basically _all_ I knew about it.

_[These creatures are in bio-stasis,]_ Brittany said softly, in answer to my questions as she sidled up near me.

_[What's that?]_ Arty asked.

_[It's stolen Andalite technology.]_

_ [Okay, that tells us nothing,]_ Kurt muttered.

_[Britt- what does bio-stasis mean?] _I asked.

_[It means that these creatures are frozen in _time_. They cannot move, or age, or think. Essentially, time does not pass for them,] _Brittany explained.

_[How the fuck,]_ Arty said quietly, obviously having a nerd-gasm.

_[So they are pretty much just chilling in cages, frozen?]_ I clarified.

_[Yes.]_

_ [Can they be acquired while they're like this?]_

Brittany nodded her Andalite head. _[I conclude it would be the main reason why Visser Seven chose to use bio-stasis on these creatures.]_

_[Santana,]_ Quinn warned, obviously having figured out where my train of thought was going.

I gave her a catty grin. _[Come on, Q. If Visser Seven has these forms, why shouldn't we?]_

_ [Santana, I don't think that's a good idea-]_ Sam started.

_[Of course not, because it's actually a _great_ idea,]_ I snapped, already beginning my transformation back to human. _[Brittany, do you know what this is?]_ I tilted my half-cheetah head toward the black dragon thing.

Brittany shrugged_. [I don't know every creature in the galaxy, San,]_ she teased as I finished my transformation back to human, ignoring Sam as he continued to disapprove of my decision to acquire the dragon thing.

_[Look, I just don't think we should be acquiring things we know nothing about,]_ Sam said angrily.

"What does it matter?" I hissed, but quietly. So far we hadn't encountered anything, and I was pretty okay with keeping it that way. "It can't hurt."

_[What if it's, like, a water creature or something?]_ Mercedes asked. _[What if you suffocate?]_

_ [Or blow yourself up?] _Blaine added.

I shrugged impatiently. "Look, I'm doing this. We don't have any forms that can go against Puck's _Kaftid_. I'm tired of getting my ass kicked. This thing," I jerked my thumb over my shoulder, "seems pretty bad ass. I'm going to acquire it. If you guys want to be pansy-ass cowards, then fine. But don't stop me from strengthening my repertoire of forms, all right?"

I turned towards the cage, took a deep breath, and slid my hand through the glowing green bars, letting my fingertips touch the shoulder of the dragon thing. I paused, surprised by the softness of its fur; then I closed my eyes and concentrated.

_[This is making me sad,]_ Mercedes said as she scanned the rows of cages with her bear eyes. _[I kind of want to, I dunno- release them or something. It just doesn't seem right.]_

_[We don't know what they are capable of,]_ Sam said hesitantly. _[They could do more harm than the Yeerks.]_

_[Yeah, they could be like the Cloverfield monster or something,]_ Blaine said.

_[I know, I know,]_ Mercedes sighed. _[But it's still sad.]_

_[Hey, guys?]_ Arty said tensely, interrupting the touching moment we were having. Get it? Because I was _touching_ the dragon thing. Hah.

_[What's up, Arty?]_ Kurt asked.

_[We've got company.]_

_ [What kind of company?]_ Quinn demanded.

_[Hork-Bajir. They just entered through the door in the back.]_

"Sounds like a party," I whispered with a smirk.

_[Don't, Santana,]_ Sam pleaded.

I shook my head at him. I wasn't going to listen to Sam. I was too excited to try out my new form. Sam was just being paranoid Sam, but once I proved to him how badass I was, he would get over that. Maybe he'd even acquire something himself.

I closed my eyes and focused on the dragon.

_[Santana…]_ Brittany started.

"Don't tell me you're against this, too," I said. But it didn't exactly come out that way. My tongue had already elongated into the dragon's snakelike, deep purple tongue, so it made speech impossible. Once I had thought-speak capabilities, I told her that way.

_[No, just- be careful, please?]_ She answered.

I grinned at her, already mostly dragon, but it came out as a terrifying snarl- at least, that's what I could tell from the slightly scared expression on Brittany's face. I prepared myself for the alien mind to take over my senses as the last changes happened to my skin- a wave of obsidian-colored fur swept over my body. It was so dark it seemed to absorb everything around it. It only added to the terrifying sight of my new form.

I waited for the instincts to kick in, and when they hit me, I almost laughed in relief. _Confidence_. Confidence oozing from every pore (did this thing even have pores?) Fear? What was that? Enemies? More like dead-emies. Nobody fucked with me. I twitched my primary set of wings that were attached to my shoulders. I had forgotten for a second that I even had wings, because they had formed so naturally. The second pair, which were a lot smaller and attached to the thick base of my tail, twitched in sympathetic response.

I felt like liquid power, like I was boss and nothing could mess with me. Having four heads was weird- especially since the senses were split. Only two of my heads had normal eyes- the other two saw in, like, heat patterns or something. It was hard to decipher. One thing was certain, though- I was a badass hunter.

I snapped one of my heads around as the sound of Hork-Bajir approaching echoed in my long, pointed, sensitive ears.

_[..tana? Santana?]_ Quinn called. _[Are you in there?]_

I almost laughed. _[Oh, I'm definitely in here,]_ I purred.

_[How is it?]_ Kurt asked skeptically.

_[It's the most awesome thing I've ever transformed into,] _I admitted, barely hiding my excitement. _[I think I found my new favorite form!]_

_[Don't get too attached,]_ Sam said harshly. _[You can't use that thing out in the open. You'll scare the shit out of people. Low profile, remember?]_

_[Right,]_ I snapped, angry that Sam just put a damper on my plans. Well, if I couldn't use this form out in the open, I was definitely going to make the most of it _now_. I moved forward silently.

_[Where are you going?]_ Sam demanded angrily.

_[To take care of those Hork-Bajir, obviously.]_

_ [Santana, no! Low profi-]_

_ [Shut it, Sam. We can't escape without them seeing us, anyways.]_

I slithered around a huge cage and sized up the Hork-Bajir. There were only four of them. Not a problem. I opened my mouth to let out a roar-

And then it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't really know what my new form _did_, exactly. I mean, sure, I had claws, but they weren't, like, the deadliest ever. It definitely wasn't the thing I was most afraid of. Actually, I didn't really know _what_ about my form I was afraid of. Oh, shit. What if my form was just like those tiny bugs that have huge camouflage eye patterns on their wings to psych out predators?

No, no, that's impossible. Puck wouldn't keep a giant _butterfly_ in a cage. This thing had to have some kind of power. And judging by the scared shitless expressions on the four Hork-Bajir's faces once they noticed me, it was pretty intense.

I guess I could just figure it out as I went.

I advanced on the four Hork-Bajir, who were scrambling to get away, and opened my mouth. I tried to concentrate on what it was my form should be doing, and aimed my gaze at one of the Hork-Bajir. Hm. Maybe if I-

And then the Hork-Bajir exploded. Just- exploded. It was very sudden and I was a little shocked, but overall pretty impressed with this random ability.

_[Cool,]_ I said. The other three tried to run but my new form made short work of them. The smell of their blood and guts was a little appealing to my form, but not overpowering- I guess whatever I was didn't really eat Hork-Bajir. Well, that was okay with me.

I sensed more Hork-Bajir entering the room- this time from a different door on the opposite end. How many doors were there in this place? I moved to rejoin the others, who had moved to the far end of the cages, near that other door.

_[Oh, shit! It's those Hork-Bajir Crips again!]_ Quinn said. Her lion tail flicked nervously behind her.

_[Wait- wouldn't they be Bloods?]_ Arty asked. _[I mean, orange is closer to red-]_

_ [Not fucking important right now!]_

_ [How do _you_ even know _anything_ about gangs?] _Mercedes muttered.

_[Well, Crips or Bloods, we are about to get slaughtered- Puck's with them!]_ Kurt cried.

My ears perked up as I reached the others. Puck was here! I could take out every Hork-Bajir easily, and then we could grab Puck and maybe even take him with us! We could totally take care of two missions at once-

"SRRREEEEEEEEE!"

_[Oh, my God! What the hell are those?!]_ Mercedes asked, sounding terrified.

_[Taxxons!]_ Brittany exclaimed, and I trained my eyes in the distance, where I could see what looked like giant yellow centipedes scuttling towards us on too many long, pointy legs. They held the front third of their bodies upright, and the pointy legs became tiny pincers- yeah, like crabs- on that part of their bodies. Around what I assumed was their head they had a circle of red, gelatinous globs that I guessed were eyes or something. At the top of their head was their mouth- a large, gaping hole rimmed in needle-sharp teeth. A long, whiplike tongue flailed out of it, and yeah, okay, I was thoroughly creeped out.

_[Remember those heebie-jeebies?]_ Kurt muttered, sounding as creeped out as I was.

_[Yes,]_ Brittany said solemnly, her voice a little shaken. My heart clenched- well, I had more than one, I think?- and I realized that, even having seen and encountered Taxxons probably pretty frequently in the past, Brittany was still completely creeped out by them.

I steeled myself. I had to protect her. I had to protect my girl.

The dragon mind, which had been silent, was indifferent to my emotions. But as I got angry, it recognized that. It felt my anger, and it supported it. I felt twice as powerful as I did before.

"Well, well, well," Puck boomed as he sauntered over, and the row of Taxxons which had preceded him parted to let him approach us. "So you found my little petting zoo here, I see." He scanned us, and then his eyes fell to me. "And Santana, nice choice. The _Vermithrax_ is one of my personal favorites, and so, so rare. In fact, I named it myself, since it's the only one of its kind."

_[Pretty dumb name,]_ I said. _[Then again, I'm not really a fan of _Dragonslayer_.]_

Puck grinned. "Of course not." He waved his hand, motioning his henchmen forward. "I'd love to chat and all, but I'm afraid you've been kind of a pain in my ass."

_[It's a mutual feeling,]_ Kurt said.

"Well, allow me to end _all_ of your feelings _right now_," Puck growled, and he began to change.

The Taxxons lunged forward quickly with one loud, hissing cry- I focused hard and two of them exploded, but I regretted it instantly- the Taxxons erupted like sacks of jelly and smelled like rotting garbage. To the sensitive nose of my _Vermithrax_- whatever- it was extremely displeasing.

_[Ugh, gross,] _Blaine growled. He bit into one of the Taxxons and it exploded into his mouth. His head was covered in putrid green ooze, and he slipped a little in the slick guts beneath his paws.

I watched in horrified fascination as the remaining Taxxons paused in their engagement of us to devour the leftovers of the dead Taxxons.

_[What the fuck!]_ Arty said in surprise.

_[They're cannibals,]_ Brittany supplied helpfully_. [And plagued by a consuming, eternal hunger. Not even the Yeerks can control it.]_

_[Charming,]_ I said.

_[We've got bigger problems,]_ Sam reminded as the Hork-Bajir Crips finally reached us. Sam punched one in the stomach but a second one cut his shoulder deep.

I focused hard on the Hork-Bajir, but after a few seconds, when nothing happened, I wondered if my body had limits to how many things it could explode in a short time. I shrugged to myself. I had three other heads, which meant I probably had three other powers, right? At least I could hope.

I slithered forward and tried to tap into my instincts, to see if I had any other weapons at my disposal, when an earth-shaking roar rose up from the thing Puck had transformed into.

Oh, yeah. I had been so focused on the Taxxons and the Crips that I hadn't even paid attention to what Puck was. Which, looking at him, seemed ridiculous, because how could I've missed him? He was _huge_. And that was an understatement.

_[Oh, shit,]_ Brittany cursed, and I wasn't sure what shocked me more- Visser Seven's form, or the fact that Brittany cursed in English. _[That's an Antarean Bogg!]_

_ [Correct,]_ Puck gloated, and I let my eyes take in his form. He was gigantic- he filled the entire space. His arms were thick tentacles- weird- and he had two huge legs. His head was like a massive balloon, round and bulging, with a gigantic mouth filled with teeth as long as my arm.

Everything happened in a blur after that. We all scrambled for cover behind some cages as we figured out how we were going to take down- hah, like there was any way to _take him down_- Puck's _Antarean Bogg_ form, because it was just too big to handle. I couldn't explode him- that would kill him, and we were still pretty invested in saving him, so until I figured out what else my form could do, I was pretty useless.

_[Come out, come out, wherever you are,]_ Puck sang.

Well, not useless. I still had some wicked teeth.

I leaped out from behind a cage, flapped my powerful primary wings once as I ran, just enough to give me greater speed, and sank my teeth in Puck's enormous leg.

"GRAAAAAWWWGGG!" Puck roared, and he swatted at me, his tentacle hitting me in the back like a bag of bricks. I went skidding across the cement floor, but noticed that Puck was screaming again, and the end of his tentacle was smoking a little. Huh. Guess my fur was poisonous or something. Just as I was about to use that knowledge to my advantage, I heard Quinn screaming, and I looked up.

Puck had her wrapped up in one of his tentacle arms and was lifting her to his mouth. He was going to eat her- and not even in the wanky way.

A blur of lavender, a flash, and Puck was collapsing in on his left side. Brittany! She had sliced his leg open-

Puck twitched his tentacle, and Quinn went flying- she smashed into the side of a cage, completely destroying the control panel to it, and the green bars flickered once, twice, and then dimmed into nothing. Frosty steam trickled from the inside, and then a different roar emerged from inside the cage.

_[Quinn!]_

Quinn climbed weakly to her feet, limping away from the cage, but at least she was alive. I breathed a sigh of relief.

_[Shit just got real!]_ Blaine yelled_. [Something's coming out of that cage!]_

As if to prove Blaine right, what looked like a wide, flat razorblade came flying out of the cage, severing a Hork-Bajir completely and landing with a thwack in a wall.

Puck's form looked nervous, and he backed away. _[Well, I'll leave my fellow Yeerks to handle this,]_ he said, shrinking rapidly and lumbering towards the door. I nearly laughed- what a coward! But then I realized- if Puck was making an escape from the creature we had released, even with all his bad-ass forms at his disposal, then that probably meant we shouldn't stick around, either.

The Hork-Bajir that were left looked pissed- well, what I guessed was pissed- and half of them advanced on the cage. The other half advanced on us.

_[Time to make our escape, too!]_ Sam shouted as he ducked a wild stab from a Hork-Bajir.

_[Good idea, I do _not_ want to be around to witness whatever that thing in the cage is,] _Mercedes agreed. She lifted a paw and smacked at a Hork-Bajir, knocking him back.

Another razorblade flew from the cage and then the creature- it was green, that's all I saw- broke free of the smashed-in metal and was instantly in the air. The Hork-Bajir Crips tried to dodge as it shot more razorblades in every direction, and many of them unholstered their previously unused Dracon beams and began to shoot.

TSEEEEW! TSEEEEW!

It was chaos! Razorblades embedded in cages, in walls- some of the cages shut down, which meant even more creatures were about to be released. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons were scrambling to try and capture the razor alien, firing Dracon beams all around. We were struggling to escape the handful of Hork-Bajir that had engaged us, and still avoid being shot with Dracon beams _and_ flying razorblades. Why was my life so hectic?

"Stop it at all costs!" Puck was yelling from the doorway of what I assumed was the entrance to the Yeerk Pool. (Sugar _had_ mentioned that there was one, right?) He sent more Hork-Bajir and Taxxons after the flying creature, most of which didn't look pleased. I smirked.

A razorblade flew in our direction and landed a few feet away.

_[Okay, it's really time to go,]_ Kurt said nervously, narrowly avoiding the swing of a Hork-Bajir. Blaine jumped on it, snarling, and took it down.

_[Great id-]_ I started, but suddenly I felt a searing, consuming pain. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground. I couldn't really feel half of my body. I couldn't really feel _anything_ except excruciating pain.

_[Santana!]_ Quinn shouted and I turned my head to look weakly at the damage to my body. I almost fainted at the sight. I was completely cut in half! _Cut in half_- how was I not _dead_? Maybe I _was_ dead, and I just didn't realize it yet- you know, like how cockroaches can live headless for days?

I looked around at the others' faces. They were all in the middle of fighting, but spared me horrified glances at every opportunity. I _had_ to be dead- there's no way I could survive being cut in half-

_[Transform!] _Someone was screaming. Maybe it was me. I focused on my own human self, and slowly began to change. My claws melted into fingers and I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn't dead!

But boy, was I angry! How dare that creature cut me in half? It didn't know who the fuck it was dealing with! I was going to transform to cheetah and destroy that thing myself!

Once I made it to human, I immediately began the change to cheetah. Spotted fur rolled over me and I rose to all fours, feeling my spine stretch out into a tail.

_[Santana, let's go!]_ Sam said once I was fully cheetah.

_[Not until I kill that creature! It tried to kill me, Sam!]_

_[Santana, I don't think-]_ Quinn started, but I was already running forward, chasing after the group of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons that were tailing the razor alien.

_[I'll kill that thing! I'll kill it!] _I screamed. As I ran, a Hork-Bajir sliced my shoulder and I stopped, turning on it. What the fuck? First that creature, and now this Hork-Bajir? That creature had almost killed me! But- no, the Hork-Bajir! If they hadn't delayed us, we would've escaped, and then I wouldn't have almost been killed. It was all this Hork-Bajir's fault!

I let out a cheetah scream and lunged at the Hork-Bajir. When I was done viciously ripping him apart, I turned to the next one_. [Who's next?]_

_[Santana, stop!]_ Sam yelled, grabbing my tail in his gorilla fist. I whipped around, raising my paw, and swatted him across the chest, leaving four bright red lines in his rubbery skin.

_[Fuck,]_ he cursed, but grabbed my front paws in his huge hands. _[We've got to go now!]_ He began to drag me towards the door. Quinn padded up beside him.

_[Come on, San,]_ Brittany said softly from my other side. It did little to calm my fury.

_[I'll kill them!]_ I raged, struggling against Sam. _[Let me go- I'll fucking kill every last one of them!]_

* * *

I was terrified! And I was also in horrible pain. I knew I had to transform back into myself, but I was paralyzed by fear. What if the Hork-Bajir captured me? I didn't want to be a slave to the Yeerks! And if I was human, I definitely ran a greater risk of being captured. No! I couldn't become a Controller!

I lied there, weighing my options for a moment. I couldn't even believe I was alive after receiving such a severe wound, but I wasn't going to question my good fortune. All around me I could hear the sounds of battle, but they sounded far away. Maybe they _were_ far away. Maybe I could transform and hide. And then I could figure out what to do next. That seemed like a good plan. Yeah. That's what I would do.

I slowly began to change back to human- it was a horrifying experience- and nearly breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed that there was no one around me. As I became more and more myself, I began to crawl away from the center of the floor and over behind a smashed-up piece of machinery. It seemed like as good a place as any for me to hunker down behind until I figured out what I was going to do next. I had no idea where Sam and the others were- maybe they thought I was dead.

But I wasn't dead, was I? I pinched my arm.

No. I wasn't dead. I curled into a ball. How was I going to get out of here?

_[Santana?!]_

My head snapped up at Mercedes' voice, and I saw her standing a few feet away, in bear form, blinking her tiny, weak bear eyes at me_. [What the hell are you doing?]_

"Mercedes!" I said, relieved. "I'm so glad you found me, I was really worried that-"

_[Come on!]_ Mercedes growled, waving her big, shaggy paw at me. _[Sam told us to bail, like, five minutes ago. I thought you went out the other way with Quinn and Brittany.]_

"What?" I whimpered as I climbed shakily to my feet. They thought I had left? Today was certainly my lucky day, there was no way-

_[We've gotta get out of here,]_ Blaine said. He looked at me. His face was still covered in Taxxon goo. I cringed. Gross.

_[No time to transform, Santana,]_ Kurt said from my other side. _[Just follow us out.]_

"Oh, thank you!" I said, smiling. They were going to take care of me. They were going to get me out of here. I had the _best_ friends-

_[You don't have to be sarcastic all the time,]_ Arty muttered as he stalked away from us, towards the door, and I gave him a confused look, feeling slightly hurt. What was he talking about? I wasn't being sarcastic…

I silently followed Mercedes and the others out, wondering why Arty would say something so mean about me. When we made it out of the building and across the street to a secluded spot, everyone changed back into human. I couldn't even watch, it was so awful to see all their limbs twisting and shrinking and melting- I kept my eyes trained on the ground.

"Okay, Sam said to meet back at Motta's," Mercedes whispered.

Kurt nodded and began changing. I jumped when his mouth bulged out into a curved beak- I wasn't prepared, okay?

"What's your problem?" Arty sneered and I flinched at his tone.

"Why are you being so mean?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. He was really hurting my feelings, and I didn't like it at all.

"What? Seriously?" Arty asked, glaring at me. He rolled his eyes and began to change into his bird form- an American robin. The colors were pretty but it was still disturbing to watch.

_[Santana! Get a move on, girl, we gots ta go!]_ Mercedes snapped. She was already completely an owl, glaring at me with wide eyes.

"I- I don't-" I started. I had to turn into a bird? How awful! "Can't I just take the bus?"

Kurt laughed. Then he looked at my face_. [Oh, you're serious?]_

_[No,]_ Mercedes insisted flatly. _[Get going.]_

They all stared at me, and I swallowed. I felt tears springing to my eyes. I didn't want to change into a bird, it was too scary. Maybe if I kept my eyes closed-

_[Come on, Santana,]_ Blaine said impatiently.

I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my lip. And I thought about my bird form, the Mississippi Kite. As birds go, it wasn't so bad, I guess. I was doing okay, trying not to think about the disgusting sounds coming from me and what those sounds might mean, until my eyes changed and opened at the same time that I was shrinking.

_[Aaaah!]_ I screamed as I zoomed down to the pavement.

_[Does she think this is funny?]_ Arty demanded. He shook his head. _[I'm out of here.]_ He flapped his wings and lifted off, and Mercedes stood watching me while I finished my transformation.

Once I was fully bird Mercedes sighed_. [Are you all right?]_ she asked. _[You've been acting weird since you got cut in half.]_ I shook my head, and she continued_. [Look, I know that it was probably a really scary experience, getting hurt like that. I thought you were dead. I'm really glad you're not.]_ I could hear the smile in her voice, and it made me feel a little better. _[You're okay, though, and you have us right here with you.]_ She gestured to Kurt and Blaine, who were standing near me.

I felt like I might cry, only- birds couldn't cry, could they? _[Thank you, Mercedes,]_ I said, sounding overwhelmed. _[You're a really great friend.]_

Mercedes shrugged her owl shoulders_. [I try. Now let's get out of here before Sam thinks we got captured or something.]_

I nodded and we lifted off. The flight home went smoothly. I tried not to think about the fact that I would have to transform again at the end of it, and instead enjoyed the scenery below me. It was, like, totally scary being up in the air, you know? There was nothing holding me up but thermals, and it wasn't like a rollercoaster where I had a seatbelt or anything. But the bird knew how to fly, and that comforted me, so I didn't worry too much about falling out of the air. Although, there was always the possibility of hunters, or other large birds-

_[Santana, are you all right? You're too quiet,]_ Blaine said, flapping hard beside me.

_[You really should get a bigger bird form,]_ I blurted. _[Not because I don't like your canary- I do. It just seems like a lot of work for you to keep up with the rest of us because your wings are so tiny.]_

Blaine was silent for a moment, then he laughed uneasily. _[Yeah, I guess. I don't know, I haven't really thought of what I might get.]_

_[Oh, I have!] _I said excitedly. _[I could totally see you as a cardinal, or maybe even a kestrel, you know, if you wanted to be a predator bird-]_

_ [Is she for real?]_ Kurt muttered.

_[I- _think_ so,]_ Mercedes answered, sounding surprised.

What were they talking about? Did I say something wrong?

Suddenly self-conscious, I stayed quiet for the rest of the flight, which wasn't much longer. When we landed in the crumbled building that housed the lift down to our shelter, I took a deep breath and prepared myself.

_[I can do this… I can do this,] _I chanted, closing my eyes. I just had to get through this, and then I wouldn't have to transform anymore. I'd tell Sam that I wanted to stay home. Maybe Sugar would let me become her assistant or something. I could help her get information and then I could plan missions. Yeah, that sounded awesome! I don't know why I hadn't thought of that idea before. Okay, except- then Brittany would go on missions without me, and- well, no I didn't want that to happen. Maybe I could get Brittany to stay home, too-

"Let's go, Santana," Mercedes said firmly but gently.

Oh, right. I had to get through this transformation first.

I took another deep breath and focused on myself. My tan skin, my dark hair, my brown eyes, you know, I really was pretty attractive. I don't know why I didn't date more often, I mean, I really- oh, wait, Brittany. Of course. I didn't date because I already belonged to someone. And she was an alien, and that was a little weird, but I guess I didn't mind so much-

"We're waiting…"

_Focus, Santana!_ I concentrated harder. The change seemed to go on and on, but finally, when I was standing shakily on my own two feet, I surged forward and hugged Mercedes.

"Thank you so much," I breathed. "I don't know what I would do without you."

Mercedes hugged me back hesitantly, patting my shoulder. "Uh- okay. You're welcome, I guess."

Kurt looked at me skeptically and Blaine stood there gawking.

Hadn't they ever seen me hug someone before? I hugged Brittany all the time.

Okay, well, maybe I didn't normally hug people besides Brittany, but, you know, I could change that. I could do hugs, couldn't I? I moved to hug Kurt but he held up a hand to stop me.

"No, that's all right," he said. I bit my lip and swallowed. Kurt rejected me? Now I know why I didn't do hugs. I needed to find Brittany. She would hug me.

I turned-

And I suddenly felt really nauseous. The memory of the pain of being sliced in half resurfaced, and, coupled with the fear I had just experienced from transforming, I felt sick and dizzy.

"I don't feel so good," I mumbled. "I've gotta go to the bathroom." I rushed down the stairs to the lift, leaving Mercedes, Kurt and Blaine behind me.

Thankfully, no one stopped or noticed me as I rushed to the bathroom, which was luckily unoccupied. I fell to my knees in front of the toilet and wished Brittany was with me to hold my hair back. I had never felt so lonely.

* * *

"Did you see that Hork-Bajir after I was done with him?" I gloated. "I tore his arm off, and then _beat_ him with it! How awesome is that?! I beat him with his own arm!" Sam didn't seem very impressed, but so what, he obviously didn't know what awesome was. I smirked to myself. He didn't like that story? I had more!

Just then, Wheezy, 'Brows, Lady Face, and The Geek Formerly Known as 'Wheels' entered the room, and I rolled my eyes at the sudden increase of pathetic people in my presence, bringing down the coolness level of the room. Although, to be honest, there was enough amazing in me to cover everyone, and no one could bring down my level, so it didn't really matter how many pathetic people were in the room.

Wheezy stopped when she saw me. "Weren't you _just_ with us? I thought you were going to the bathroom."

I shrugged, glaring at her. "Obviously not if I'm right here." Was she fucking stupid?

Wheezy returned my glare. "Well, your good mood didn't last long."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" What the fuck was she talking about? I was still in a good mood. Or at least, I was before all those losers came into the room.

Wheezy rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Nevermind. I don't know why I even bother sometimes, Santana."

I shook my head, smirking. "Feel free not to in the future."

"Okay, enough," Sam said, sounding tired. "We need to regroup. Down there was a disaster- again." He gave me a look and I glared at him.

"Don't look at _me_- I saved your sorry asses!"

"Santana, we had to drag you out of there kicking and screaming!" Sam retorted.

"Yeah, and if you would've just let me go, I would've taken care of all of-"

"You would've gotten _killed_, you mean!"

"Who cares?" Quinn interrupted. "That's over. We need to focus on what happens now."

"Yeah, we aren't having very much luck with the community center," Former 'Wheels' said. "We need a new angle. I say we sneak in and _don't_ alert them to our presence this time. That seems to be what's actually getting us in trouble."

"Well, we're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view," I said. "But I'll just go ahead and say what we're all thinking- your point of view sucks, and so does that idea."

"Why do you have to be so rude all of the time?" Stubbles exploded. Unfortunately, he didn't _actually_ explode.

I shrugged. "I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant."

"Okay, enough," Sam snapped again, glaring at me. "I don't know what your problem is, Santana, but-"

"My _problem_ is that _he's_ acting like a vagina and wasting my time," I said. "Obviously sneaking in isn't our strong point. We need to blow the place up."

"We could always do what we did to the aquarium," Quinn suggested with a shrug and a wry smile. I grinned at her. I liked the way her brain worked- no wonder she was my best friend.

"Set it on fire?" Prancy Smurf asked, raising a dubious eyebrow. "No thanks, that was too close. We barely made it out of there."

"Don't be a pussy," I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Don't be a bitch," Prancy snapped back, and I suddenly felt the need to beat the shit out of him. I was about to grab the back of his neck and smash his face into the coffee table- come on, he could always just transform and heal himself- when the person I least wanted to see came sauntering into the room.

I glared at him- did the kid own anything other than green?- and wished he would disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Hullo, everyone," Kermit the Frog said as he entered. "I've got some news from Sugar, since she's still dealing with the Terri situation."

"I'm sorry- can you speak English?" I snapped.

"Uh-" The kid looked over at Sam, who shook his head and gestured for him to continue. "Well, it looks like there's another way into the Community Center…"

I tuned him out. It was pretty doubtful that he would have anything to say that was worth my time to listen to. Instead I wondered how long it would take him to notice that I was currently glaring a hole into the side of his-

Oh, _hold the fuck up!_ He just smiled at Brittany- _my_ Brittany- and she definitely just smiled back. Fuck no! Right in front of me?! I'll kill that fucking potato-eating leprechaun! Who does he think he is?! How dare he smile at Britts like that? I'll tear his throat out! And I don't even need to go cheetah to do it!

I got caught up imagining all the ways I was going to kill Lucky the Leprechaun- soon to be Unlucky the Leprechaun- and completely ignored Sam when he continued to talk, making plans for our next mission. Who cared, anyways? No one. _My_ next mission was going to be to destroy this ballsy Mick. I stared hard at his throat, watching the veins there. I thought about how it might feel to tear it out with my bare hands, to strangle him, feeling him writhe powerlessly beneath me, his last breaths squeezing out from between my fingers-

"-meet up tomorrow with what we're gonna do next-" Sam droned on, but all I heard was that this meeting was coming to a close. Good. I hopped up first and strolled over to Brittany, who was standing on Sam's other side.

"Hey, _babe_," I said accusingly, and Brittany had less than a second to shoot me a puzzled look before I was kissing her, hard, on the mouth- right in front of Randy. When I pulled back she looked a little dazed, and I smirked at her before I turned to the object of all my anger.

I jabbed my fingers into his collarbone, shoving him back roughly. He stumbled.

"What-"

"Stay the _fuck_ away from my girl, Brittany," I snarled. "If you ever even _look_ at her again, I'll rip your eyeballs out and feed them to you in a bowl of Lucky Charms."

"O-Okay," he whimpered.

"San," Brittany chided, grabbing my arm. She pulled me away, but not before I cast one more glare at Ralph, and then Brittany had all of my attention.

"You smiled at him," I said dangerously.

"I did," Brittany agreed, sounding slightly confused. "Was I not supposed to?"

I laughed humorlessly. "Were you not supposed to," I repeated, chuckling to myself. I grabbed her hand and yanked her roughly towards the bedroom, laughing bitterly the whole way.

Once inside, I shut the door and locked it.

"Santana, are you all-"

I cut her off with a hard, forceful kiss, reaching up to tangle my fingers in her hair to hold her head in place while I invaded her mouth with my tongue. She was mine, and she needed to be reminded of that, so she didn't go smiling at punks named Rudy. She was mine, and I was going to take her.

Brittany moaned in my mouth, wrapping her arms around me. She tried to slow down the kiss, but I was having none of that. I wasn't into slow and gentle. I pushed her back towards the bed, and she fell onto her back. I gazed down at her- she was propped up on her elbows, panting, looking at me with those blue eyes, God, she was so _hot_. I leaned down to kiss her again, pushing her shoulder so she was flat against the bed, and then straddled her.

She reached up to touch me but I grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the bed on either side of her head. She gave me a confused look, but didn't say anything as I kissed her neck, then began to suck on it. Good girl. I let my left hand trail down her body. I paused to grope her boobs roughly, and she moaned and bucked her hips, making me smirk. She wanted me, of course she did- I was flawless and totally topping her. I tugged at her nipple through her shirt and she hissed, and I bit into her neck, sucking hard- I knew it wouldn't last, but I wanted to mark her so she'd know that she belonged to me _now_.

I dragged my nails down her stomach and she cried out in pain, arching up into me, and I kissed her to silence her, growling into her mouth as I pushed my hand under her shorts. I smirked to myself- she liked it rough, I could tell- she was already so wet.

"You little slut," I told her as I teased her entrance briefly.

"What?" she asked, then gasped as I drove two fingers into her.

I fucked her hard, relentlessly. She grabbed onto my shoulders and held on- it was really all she could do. As I fucked her, I got angry again. I can't believe she smiled at that fucking potato-eating loser. Especially when she had _me_. Why would she ever smile at anyone else when she had me, and I was fucking her so good? Did she like pissing me off? Maybe that was it- maybe she wanted to get me angry so I'd fuck her like this-

I grabbed Brittany's shoulder with my right hand and flipped her, so she was on her stomach, and I was fucking her from behind- then I yanked her shorts off. I placed my hand on her face and pressed her into the mattress, and she gasped, squeezing her eyes shut. I used the back of her thigh and the curve of her ass for friction, grinding my hips against them, and moaned. Taking Brittany like this, being so in control, was building me up quickly.

"Open your eyes," I demanded. "Look at me."

Brittany did as she was told, and the look in her blue eyes got me that much closer to reaching my orgasm. I pounded into her harder, watching her knuckles turn white as she gripped the pillow beneath her.

"Who do you belong to? Tell me, B," I purred.

"Y-you?" Brittany gasped, but she didn't sound convincing. I briefly wondered if she understood this game, I mean, she was an alien- but she was smart. She'd get it.

I fucked her harder. "Louder, Britt. Say it louder. I want that fucking twit, Randy, to hear it. I want you to tell him who you belong to so he doesn't," I thrust into her as hard as I could, "ever," thrust, "smile at you _again_."

Brittany shuddered; I could feel her clenching around my fingers, she was so close. Her mouth was open, like she was screaming, but no sound was coming out.

"Go ahead, B- tell him. Who do you belong to?"

"_You_, Santana!"

I smirked. See? She got it. I thrust into her a few more times, making sure to hit that sweet spot, and soon enough, Brittany was arching beneath me, shaking. I pushed my hips against her ass a few more times, and then I was coming, too.

After a few moments, I pulled my fingers out, watching Brittany twitch on the bed.

My fingers had blood on them. I wiped them on the back of Brittany's shirt and stood up, smirking, while she laid there, gasping for air and shivering.

She looked at me- I guess expecting me to cuddle or something, _gross_- and I raised a challenging eyebrow at her.

"Don't forget it," I told her coldly.

I turned away. All that fucking made me really thirsty. I exited the room, sparing not even a backward glance at Brittany's trembling form.

* * *

After I emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet- which wasn't much, all I'd had to eat that day was cereal, and anyways, I wasn't even sure if I had thrown up any cereal- had it digested in my human body even though I had been a cheetah? Or did the contents of my stomach stay in there and transfer to my cheetah body? That couldn't be, because cheetahs don't eat cereal; in fact, I'm not even sure they can digest cereal, and if they did, what good would it even do them because they eat like, meat and stuff, so-

Wait. What was I saying again?

Oh. Right. Well.

After I finished throwing up whatever was in my stomach, I sat on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, leaned up against the shower stall, hugging myself and crying for a really long time. Okay, I know it sounds pathetic. But I had almost _died_. And it had happened so fast. I didn't even get a chance to say good-bye to Brittany, or-

Brittany. She would make me feel better!

I got up and reached for the door handle- then paused. Like, I just threw up. I should probably brush my teeth.

Once I was confident I didn't taste like bile, I gave myself a once-over in the mirror. I didn't look too bad, considering. I ran a hand through my hair and smiled briefly at myself. My eyes were a little red and puffy from crying, but… I frowned. I had been in the bathroom for a long time. I hoped no one needed to use it.

I wondered why no one had come to find me. Specifically, why Brittany hadn't come to find me. How did the others even know that I had made it back alive? Well, I mean, I guess Mercedes probably would've told them I was alive but wasn't feeling well- she was such a good friend, I don't even know what I would do without her- and if she told them, that means Brittany probably made them all leave me alone.

Brittany. My heart swelled with affection. I placed my hand over my chest. I needed to see her.

I took one last glimpse of myself in the mirror and then exited the bathroom, making my way down the dim, quiet hall towards my room.

I opened the door slowly, slipping inside and shutting it behind me, and then turned towards the bed.

Brittany was lying on her back, looking flustered and out of breath. She was panting, her chest heaving, and her cheeks were flushed. She was wearing just a tank top and panties, and I let my eyes trace over her long, sexy legs, slightly concerned at how sweaty she was. Was she sick, too? Or-

I felt a blush creep over my cheeks. I hoped I hadn't interrupted a private moment-

"San," Brittany breathed, sitting up slightly and propping herself up on her elbow, wincing. Her hair was tousled and fell over her bare shoulders, and I wanted to press a gentle kiss there.

I moved to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, reaching out to run my fingers through Brittany's silky blonde, slightly damp hair.

"Did I interrupt something?" I asked shyly, averting my eyes to where I was playing with the ends of Brittany's hair.

"No?" Brittany answered, sounding slightly confused. I smiled at her, lifting my gaze to meet hers. She was so beautiful. Like, the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. I felt my heart beating faster in response to how much adoration was sweeping through my body, and I leaned forward slowly to press my lips to hers.

She sighed against my mouth, still a little out of breath, and reached up to cup my cheek.

"I love you," I whispered against her lips.

She nuzzled her nose against mine. "I love you, too… did you get your drink?"

"Hm?" I asked, not really paying attention. I was too busy breathing in Brittany's scent, allowing her presence to calm me.

"You went to get water, right?" She asked softly, running her fingers through my hair. I leaned into her touch.

"No, I went to the bathroom." I swallowed as I remembered how I felt in the bathroom. It definitely hadn't been pleasant, in fact, it had been cold and really lonely, and I wished Brittany had been there to hold me like she was doing now.

I kissed her again, squeezing my eyes shut to hold back tears, and trying to lose myself in Brittany's warmth. I pressed myself against her, letting our kiss become more heated, and I trailed my hand up her bare thigh, stroking softly, feeling a shiver pass through me from how much I wanted her- _needed_ her. I needed her to make me forget everything I'd just been through.

I gently cupped her center through her panties, feeling how damp they were- wow, she must've been waiting for me- and I stroked my fingers up, pressing against her.

"San," Brittany gasped, breaking our kiss. She leaned away from me slightly, grabbing my wrist to stop the movement of my hand. Maybe I _had_ interrupted something when I came in. Maybe she didn't wait for me. Maybe- "We- we just-"

"You don't want me?" I choked, feeling hot tears springing to my eyes at the thought. I bit my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. Brittany was rejecting me? I grabbed at my chest, feeling my heart clenching painfully at the thought that Brittany didn't want me.

"What?" Brittany asked, looking at me with wide, panic-filled eyes. "San, I-" she swallowed. "C-can I have a minute? You were really r-rough…"

I nodded, willing my tears away, even though I had no clue what she was talking about. When had I been rough? Was this some weird Brittany-ism that I didn't understand, even though I usually got her strange comments? Had she been dreaming? Was _I_ dreaming? Maybe I'd been rough in her mind, and she'd touched herself roughly. I mean, it could happen, right?

Regardless, I snuggled up to her shoulder and we settled down on the bed. I moved my hand to trace over her smooth thigh, soothing her, then let my palm slide over her stomach. She hissed slightly, but didn't say anything, and I continued to caress her legs.

After long minutes, her breathing had evened out, but remained quick, and I pressed my lips to her shoulder. When she didn't respond or stop me, I shifted so that I could kiss her collarbone, then her chest, and I moved to straddle her, planting soft kisses across her exposed skin. She shivered and ran her hands through my hair, and I sighed against her. I loved kissing her. I loved making her feel good. I wanted to make her feel better than I ever had-

I smiled against her skin, and slid my hands up her stomach and under her shirt, pushing it up. She lifted off the bed slightly to allow me to remove it, and once I was dropping it on the floor, I let my gaze fall to her abdomen-

"Britt!" I gasped at the sight of several angry, red lines scratched into her stomach. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Brittany bit her bottom lip and gave me a confused look. She looked like she was trying to decide how to answer, and after a moment, I reached up and cupped her face, leaning forward to kiss her.

"Don't worry," I breathed, before I sucked on her bottom lip. "I'll take care of you."

"San…"

"Shh, baby." I stroked down her cheek and then returned to kissing my way across her chest. I slid my tongue out to taste her skin, which was slightly salty from her sweat; I guess she'd really worked herself up. It didn't matter to me, though, as I pressed my lips to the scratches on her abs. I felt her tense beneath my mouth and her hands wind tighter into my hair, but she didn't push me away, and I kissed the scratches softly, caressing them with my lips, trying to show Brittany just how much I loved and treasured her.

I hooked my fingers into the waistband of her panties and tugged them down gently, exposing her. She was already so wet for me, and I smiled at how much Brittany wanted me. I felt so lucky and honored that someone as amazing as Brittany wanted to be with me like this. I pressed a kiss to her inner thigh and heard her breath hitch above me.

I took a deep breath, inhaling her scent. This was it. I'd never done this before, but I'd never wanted to give this to someone as much as I wanted to give it to Brittany, in this moment. I licked my lips and pressed a gentle kiss to Brittany's warm, wet center, and her hips jerked in response. Her hands tightened in my hair, and I smiled, then pressed a firmer kiss to her. This wasn't so bad. I could totally do this.

I hesitantly let my tongue slip out to taste her, and the noise Brittany made at the contact only spurred me on, and soon I was stroking her firmly with my tongue, getting lost in her taste and the feel of her against my mouth. It was like- I don't know, like eating my favorite dessert or something. No, _better_. The way Brittany tugged gently on my hair, caressing me, made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. I slid my hand up to hold hers, and she grabbed it tightly, making me smile against her.

It didn't take her long to come- and oh, God, was it amazing. I'd never felt something so amazing. I felt like I was on cloud nine, and I wasn't even the one that had an orgasm. I guess just the thought that I was able to bring so much pleasure to someone I loved so much made me feel amazing.

I licked at her for a few more moments, bringing her back down from her orgasm tenderly, and then I moved back up to kiss her. There was so much love in her kiss that it was overwhelming, and tears came to my eyes at how much I felt for her. She was just so beautiful and perfect and I just couldn't believe how lucky I was.

I reached up to wipe my tears away with my finger and Brittany blinked at me, confused. "Are you crying?"

I gave her a watery smile. "I'm just really happy. I love you so much, Brittany."

Brittany's face softened, and she tugged me down against her. "I love you, too, Santana. So, so much."

I let my fingers go back to tracing idle patterns on her chest. "I'm just so lucky to have you," I said. "I mean, I almost died back there," Brittany squeezed me briefly, "and I realized that if I had- died, I mean- I wouldn't even have gotten to say good-bye to you, and, like, that's really scary, you know? It was really scary transforming back and having no one around. If Mercedes hadn't found me, I would have-"

"Wait. Mercedes?" Brittany scrunched her eyebrows, looking adorably confused again. "But you came with _us_, San. You came home with me and Sam and Quinn."

"What?" I shook my head. "No, I was- I was hiding behind that cage, trying to find the courage to transform again, when Mercedes found me. I flew home with her and Kurt and…" I trailed off as I noticed Brittany's eyes were impossibly wide. She looked terrified.

She sat up suddenly, cursing in Andalite. I would've giggled if she hadn't had such a serious expression on her face. She grabbed my hand, pulling me off the bed, pausing just long enough to throw the clothes she had been wearing when I came in- just a tank top and panties- back on before she dragged me out into the hallway.

"Sam!" she yelled. "Sam! Quinn! Get everyone together- _now_."

* * *

"She's a Controller. She's got to be," Arty said. I wasn't, was I? At least, I didn't remember becoming one. I was sitting on the coffee table, being scrutinized by the others. I bit my lip nervously as they argued.

"No, I don't think so," Quinn said slowly, shaking her head. "A Controller would act and sound exactly like Santana, and _she_," she pointed at me, "is different."

"Yeah, really. She was crying about transforming into a _bird_ one second, and the next she was vicious and insulting," Mercedes said. Was she making fun of me?

"She was extremely violent with us," Sam said, looking to Brittany and Quinn for confirmation.

"But I wasn't even _with_ you guys," I said. "I was with Mercedes and Kurt and Blaine."

"Maybe she's finally lost it," Kurt said with a shrug.

"No, she was definitely with us, too," Quinn said. "Which means-"

"What the hell, you guys are having a party without me?!"

We all looked up at the doorway. I recognized that voice, it was-

It was _me_.

"Houston, we have a problem," Kurt muttered.

"Great, it's everyone's dream come true- _two_ Santanas," Arty grumbled. Brittany and Quinn looked back and forth between us, as if they couldn't figure out which of us was the _real_ Santana- which one was the real _me_.

But- _I_ was me. I looked down at myself.

Wasn't I?

* * *

**Okay, so, in case you were wondering- you aren't supposed to like Santana in this chapter. Well, one of the Santanas in this chapter, lol. Don't worry, next chapter I'll discuss in greater detail what happened and stuff, if you're confused. Hopefully it won't be three more weeks before I get it posted. (Sorry!) **

**Review if you have feelings about this chapter. If not, that's okay, no worries.**

**See you next time! :D**


	29. Bare, Bear

**Hey sup at ya'll! :D Hope you're having a great week, mine's been cray cray. Hashtag rough life, lololol.**

**Okay so anyways. Here's an update. Not much to say about it. **

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, followed, etc. etc. the last chapter. As always, you guys are my shining stars!**

**Hope this resolution sits well with you guys. It's a little heavy, and there's some violence, but other than that, not too crazy, I don't think. **

**Enjoy! 8)~**

* * *

She looked at me.

I looked at her.

The others looked at both of us.

"Who the fuck are you?" Other Me said, glaring at me. "And why the fuck are you in my body?"

"I'd totally make a body joke here, but there's just too many to choose from," Kurt muttered.

"Shut up, Pansy," Other Me snapped. "I'm trying to talk to this imposter bitch, here." She turned her angry brown eyes- _my_ eyes- on me and her lips curled up into a snarl. I automatically cowered away from her. What? She was scary! "Hey- pussy girl- can you talk, or are you going to sit there whimpering? Answer my question!"

I squeezed my eyes shut. Why was she so mean? This was just too much for me to handle, I didn't know who she was or why she looked like me, either, but there was no need to be so rude about it-

"Are you fucking dumb?" Other Me hissed, suddenly right in my face, and I brought my arms up to my head just in case she was planning to hit me, but then Brittany was standing in front of me protectively and pressing her hand to Other Me's chest.

"Santana, stop," Brittany said firmly.

"What the fuck, Brittany?" Other Me asked. "Is this some kind of joke? Who is _that_ bitch? Why are you all looking at me like that?" She turned to glare at the others, who were still baffled to see two of us in the same room, still trying to determine if one of us was an imposter, and to be honest I was really confused myself, I mean, I was pretty sure that I was real, but does a clone ever know if it's real or not? Maybe I-

"Is someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on?" Other Me demanded angrily, balling her hands up into fists. She glared at me again. "_Who_ the fuck are you?"

"I'm- Santana," I said weakly, a little proud that I had found the courage to speak.

Other Me burst into uproarious laughter. "You are _not_ Santana," she said coldly. "I'm Santana."

"I think- I think they both are," Sam said suddenly.

"I think so, too," Mercedes muttered. "I don't believe it, but-"

"That's impossible!" Other Me snapped. She looked at Brittany. "Isn't it? Brittany, tell them it's impossible!"

Brittany shrugged. "Nothing is impossible," she said. Other Me looked baffled. I shook my head slowly, trying to process everything.

"Santana," Sam started.

"Yes?" I answered brightly.

"Yeah?" Other Me huffed at the same time, then shot me a threatening look, as if she was angry that I answered to my own name.

"Okay, that's gonna get old fast," Kurt said with a roll of his eyes.

"We need to think of something to call them," Arty agreed.

"What about- Nice Santana and… Mean Santana?" Blaine suggested.

"More like Flawless Santana," Other Me laughed. "Flawless Santana and- and _Pussy_ Santana." She flicked her finger at my collarbone, laughing.

"Owtch," I whimpered, flinching away from her. She laughed again, louder, and Brittany frowned at her.

"Okay, stop," Sam said impatiently. "Mean Santana-"

"You mean Flawless Santana."

"I'm not calling you that."

Other Me shrugged. "Then don't fucking talk to me."

"Snix," Quinn said suddenly.

"What?" Kurt asked, raising a perfectly-sculpted eyebrow. I was impressed at how he managed to keep them so neat, I mean, we didn't have a stylist down here, so.

"Santana always said she had a dark side, like an evil twin, that came out when she was angry," Quinn explained, and I blinked. Did I really used to say that? I couldn't remember. Maybe I _was_ the clone. The thought troubled me. "She named it Snix."

Snix smiled evilly. "Perfect. You can address me as that."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Okay, then, _Snix_- what happened down in the Community Center?"

"Well, I fucking got cut in half, Sam, is your memory fucked up? That stupid razor alien thing sliced me in half- I transformed back to human and then went straight to cheetah because no one fucks with me and lives to tell about it, ya feels me?" Snix said. "But then you had to stick your big fat trouty lips in my business and drag me away, otherwise I would've finished that alien, all the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, and got Puck out, too!"

"Right," Sam said flatly. "And Santana?"

It took me a moment to realize he was talking to _me_. "Yes?" I asked timidly.

"What do you remember?"

"I- I almost died."

"Obviously, dumbass," Snix sneered.

"Sant- I mean- _Snix_," Brittany scolded.

Snix rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but she kept quiet while I struggled to remember what happened down in the Community Center.

"I- I got cut in half," I said slowly. "And then- I tried to figure out what to do for a while. I think? Eventually I changed back to, like, human, and then…" I closed my eyes and focused really hard. It was hard to remember, like, it had happened so long ago and I was having trouble grasping it. "I think- Mercedes found me?"

Mercedes nodded. "That's right. And you came home with us, right?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I guess so. I can't really remember."

Sam released a heavy breath. "Well, this sucks."

"Tell me about it," Arty agreed. "As if one Santana wasn't enough."

"Well obviously something went wrong when she got cut in half. But the question is: why did she become two people?" Quinn wondered.

Brittany shrugged. "I don't know. It's not normal."

"I guess we could try and figure out more about what that creature was she turned into," Blaine suggested.

"It's a good place to start," Sam agreed. "Maybe if we figure out what split them, we can figure out how to get them back together."

"Woah- hold the fuck up," Snix raged. "Back together? You don't honestly expect me to want that _wuss_ to become part of me again, do you? Because that's just fucking ridiculous. I'm obviously far better off without that weak, whimpering moron. I'm obviously the strongest, most important parts of the person I used to be, and that pussy," she gestured to me, "is all the weak, insecure parts."

"I'm not weak," I protested. I wasn't, was I? Just because I didn't like to fight- just because I didn't want to transform anymore- just because-

"You're a coward," Snix sneered. "You're a puny, pathetic weakling, and if Sam was actually smart, he'd let me kill you right now."

I bit my lip, feeling tears spring to my eyes. God, Snix was so mean. I wasn't a coward. I _wasn't_.

I choked back a sob, and Snix laughed. I felt arms sliding around me, and Brittany's comforting scent invaded my nose. I turned and buried my face into her shoulder and she held me tightly while I broke down against her.

"What the fuck, Brittany?" Snix exclaimed. "Don't fucking encourage her! The little pussy needs to take a concrete pill and harden the fuck up-"

"That's enough, Snix," Brittany said firmly, holding me tighter.

"I can't believe you're taking her side! I'm obviously the better half, here-"

"Sit down, Snix," Sam ordered, and I peeked out from Brittany's shoulder to see Snix turning to Sam, glaring menacingly.

"Don't tell me what to do, Sam."

"Don't challenge me, Snix."

"And what if I do, huh?" Snix snarled, getting up in Sam's face. I hid further into Brittany's shirt. "What're you going to do about it? You're all talk-"

"Snix, please don't-" Mercedes started, but Snix was already exploding, screaming in Spanish.

"[You think you can take me on? Come on, Trouty! I'll rip you into pieces! I'm from Lima Heights Adjacent, and I'm proud! Do you know what happens in Lima Heights Adjacent?! Bad things!]"

Quinn rushed forward to wrap her arms around Snix's waist, holding her back as she screamed at Sam and waved her arms menacingly. Blaine got up to help, because Snix was getting more and more riled up by the second.

"[This has been coming for a long time, so let's go! I'm going to give you the ass-kicking you've been begging for!]"

She continued to scream and threaten Sam, who was shaking his head bitterly, his face a stony mask of disappointment. I continued to cry against Brittany, wondering if all these thoughts- all these angry thoughts about Sam- had existed in me all along, but I'd been keeping them locked away. Had this side of me- the me that I currently was- been the only thing keeping the old, cohesive me from fighting Sam? The thoughts were troubling. I cried harder.

"I'll kill you, Sam!" Snix screamed. "I'll fucking kill you! I'll kill you!"

Sam rolled his eyes, and I whimpered, holding onto Brittany tighter. Brittany rocked me gently and stroked my hair, trying to soothe me, but she didn't know how it felt, you know? Arty and Mercedes and Kurt just watched on with wide, incredulous eyes as Snix raged and cursed and flailed and threatened to kill every person in the room.

"She's not part of me," I choked. I couldn't believe that Snix had been inside me, that she had been a part of me, and that now she was out and everyone could see her, could see all the dark thoughts and feelings I had been keeping locked away. Did that person really live in me? Did she really exist? "That's not who I am," I whimpered over and over and over, and Brittany continued to stroke my hair. It was long moments before Snix calmed down, but the damage was already done- everyone had seen her, everyone had seen the psychotic, out of control horror that had been inside me.

Why would I ever want that back?

I swallowed.

"You good?" Quinn asked in a firm voice from her place on the floor with Snix. She had her arms locked around Snix's shoulders, and Snix looked flustered, her hair tousled, as she sat against Quinn and gave a curt nod. Quinn released her hold but didn't move, and the two of them sat on the floor, out of breath and disheveled. I bit my lip as I felt a new round of tears coming. God, I was so pathetic-

"Okay, so now we have to figure out what to do now," Sam said quietly, sounding contemplative.

"What do we do with _her_?" Arty asked, gesturing to Snix.

"We could kill her," Kurt said nonchalantly.

"I'd like to see you try, Twink!" Snix snarled from the floor.

"Can we think of real solutions here?" Quinn asked snippily.

"I _was_," Kurt said indignantly. "I like this Santana," he gestured to me, "better."

"But she's- I don't know, missing something vital," Blaine argued.

"A spine?" Mercedes suggested.

"She's a pussy," Arty said flatly.

"Hah! Told ya," Snix laughed.

My bottom lip trembled. Is that what they all thought of me? Would they choose Snix over me in the end, just because I wasn't as violent as her? Brittany rubbed my back soothingly, but I averted my eyes to the ground and struggled to hold in my tears. Why was everyone being so mean to me? I didn't do anything to deserve it-

"Am I going to die?" I whimpered.

"No, honey," Brittany reassured quickly. She cupped my face and stroked her thumb over my cheek, swiping away a tear that had fallen.

"No one's killing either of you-" Sam agreed.

"We'll see about that," Snix muttered, and I shivered.

"-but we can't have two Santanas on any mission," Sam finished.

"You don't need two Santanas," Snix boasted. "You just need one- me!"

Sam shook his head. "No. You're out of control. I can't trust you to put the team first."

"What?!" Snix exploded. "Tell me you're joking!"

"I'm not," Sam said, his voice hard. "You're sitting this one out."

"You can't keep me here!" Snix argued. "I'll leave-"

"And Kurt- you and Blaine are going to watch over the two Santanas," Sam finished.

Snix burst out laughing, and Kurt and Blaine looked like Sam had just sentenced them to death. Maybe he had. Maybe he'd sentenced me to death, too. No way would Klaine be able to stop Snix from killing me-

"Sam, you've had some fucking retarded ideas in the past, but this one is the best," Snix giggled. "You really think _Team Gay_ is going to stop me? Kurt couldn't even stop his Frankenteen step-brother-"

"Don't," Kurt snapped.

Snix smirked at him. "What are you going to do about it, Porcelain?"

"How about you just don't find out?" Kurt growled.

"Hah," Snix laughed, raising a challenging eyebrow. Kurt's hands balled into fists, and I could see the tension in his jaw from where he was clenching his teeth. My eyes traced over his face. He really did have pretty flawless skin-

Sam sighed and rubbed his temples. "First things first- we need to figure out what caused Santana to split like this. I think taking a look around the Community Center is a good place to start." He took a deep breath. "Quinn and Mercedes, I need you on the mission. Brittany, I'd like you to go, too."

I felt fear shoot down my spine. Brittany was the only thing protecting me from Snix. If she left, there's no telling what Snix would do to me. I chewed my lip anxiously at the thought. I think Brittany sensed it, too, because she shook her head. "I can't leave her, Sam." She slid her hand into mine and I felt a little better.

Snix glared.

"I'll go," Arty volunteered. "One Santana is bad enough. It's in my best interest to find a way to reunite them."

"Right," Sam said. He paused. "We should probably go now, before the lab gets cleaned up, see if we can glean any info from the computers or whatever."

"Maybe there're some filing cabinets down there," Mercedes suggested with a shrug.

"It's a thought," Quinn said, smiling.

"It's about time she had one," Snix mumbled.

Sam looked at Kurt, his eyes serious. "We'll be back soon. Don't let _either_ of them leave."

* * *

**SNIXXX**

**/**

It hadn't even been an hour and I was already going crazy from boredom.

_Team Gay_ was sitting on the couch playing some stupid board game, and Pussy Santana and Brittany were painting each other's toenails- how fucking lame could they get?

I rolled my eyes for what felt like the millionth time in five minutes. Seriously, I was starting to get a fucking headache from it. I had my arms crossed tightly against my chest, scowling at everyone in the room. Sam had forbid me to leave this underground torture pit, Brittany was obviously exploring the wussier side of life with my pathetic half, and Klaine were living up to the gayest of gay stereotypes.

Fucking Trouty. This was all his fault. I could be out, I don't know, doing something- anything other than what I was currently doing. I stood up abruptly to head to my room.

"Where are you going?" Pretty Pony asked, looking up from _Monopoly: Gay Edition_ or whatever the fuck he was playing.

"To my room, is that okay, Mom?"

Pretty Pony answered me with a glare and Pussy Santana looked up from Brittany's toenails. I caught her brown eyes and she averted hers quickly, and I smirked, shaking my head. What a pathetic wuss.

I stormed into my room and flung open the door to my tiny closet. You know, for someone as badass as me, I really should've had a bigger room with a bigger closet. I was going to have to talk to Splenda about that, pronto. Especially since I had to share the fucking room with Brittany and my puss twin.

I snatched my leather jacket from the hanger- it pays to have Splenda's credit card for online shopping- and put it on. There was no fucking way I was staying locked up in this hell hole, Trouty or no Trouty. And all the gays in the world were not going to stop me.

I strolled out of my room purposefully, heading to the lift. I heard Lady Gay call after me, but I ignored him. This was too fucking easy.

* * *

**SNIXXX**

**/**

I hated the mall. I don't know why I even went there, but it was the only place I could think of. I couldn't really remember anything that I used to like to do. Didn't I have any hobbies besides fucking cheerleading? Ugh, was I really a cheerleader for so long? Fucking kill me.

It was a good way to kill some time, and also a good way to actually want to kill people. I hated people, especially stupid ones- and the mall seemed to attract the stupidest, worst ones. I was in a shop looking for some new black clothes- because let's face it, you can never own too much black- when one of the stupidest people alive decided to call my name, at the same time deciding that she probably didn't want to be alive for much longer. Bad decisions, really.

"Santana?"

I paused in my digging through the clearance box and stiffened. That couldn't fucking be who I thought it was-

The girl- I think her name was Celeste or something?- chuckled from behind me and I closed my eyes.

Oh. It was.

"So what, did you get pregnant or something?" Celeste taunted. "Is that why you dropped out of school and Cheerios?"

"Celeste," I said in a forcibly sweet tone, glaring down at the shirt in my hands. "I'm going to make a suggestion to you that I really hope you follow: Shut. The fuck. Up. I really don't want to have to kill you."

"Kill me?" She asked incredulously, laughing. "You're joking, right?"

I spun around, and let my gaze bore into her. "No," I hissed.

She looked taken aback for a moment but obviously had no common sense to alert her that I meant business, and opened her mouth again. "So is that it, then?"

"What?" I snapped. Was she still fucking talking?

"You're pregnant? I mean, that's what's going around-"

"Are you a fucking moron?" I demanded.

Celeste smirked. "Wait- that can't be true," she said slowly, obviously leading up to something.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to resist the overpowering urge to smack the smirk right off her face because I really didn't want to risk getting blood on my leather jacket if I broke her nose. "And why is that?"

Celeste leaned closer, in my face, and I took a deep breath. She was _really_ trying my patience. "Because you're a big, fat _lesbian_- aren't you?"

I blinked. Did she really just-

"You're just a big ol' _dyke_ now, so how could you possibly get pregnant? I saw you with that blond-haired bimbo, you know, she's kind of _creepy_ Santana, you should-"

And that's when my dear friend Celeste finally stopped talking, because my hand was around her throat, cutting off her air supply. I hoped she didn't need that.

"I fucking warned you to keep your fugly mouth shut," I hissed, squeezing my fingers tighter. She reached up to grab my arm, to push it away, but I reached up and oh-so-carefully grabbed her head and twisted, listening to the very satisfying sound of her neck breaking- the sickening crack of her vertebrae, ah, how lovely.

And her screams.

"You're crazy! You're fucking crazy!"

I nodded, grinning. "Yep."

I didn't kill her- unfortunate, I know- but the bitch wouldn't be doing much of _anything_ except physical therapy for the next six months.

I smiled warmly down at Celeste, who was writhing on the floor of the store, holding her neck and crying- screaming, really. "You know, next time you should really learn to follow some fucking advice when it's given to you. But honestly, you should be grateful- now you'll have plenty of time to sit around and think about minding your own fucking business instead of opening that disgusting, foul-smelling hole in your face, because you'll definitely be spending the next few weeks being a real-life version of a bobble-head doll." I lifted my shoulders in a slight shrug, hummed, and gave her a little wave. "Gotta go, but it was nice seeing you," I smirked.

I looked up, catching the eyes of the cashier, who was staring at me in shock, holding the phone to her ear- probably talking to mall security. I gave her a bigger, nonchalant shrug and spun on my heel.

It was time to leave.

I was still walking with a spring in my step when I got outside and Porcelain confronted me.

"Jesus Christ, Snix," he hissed, sidling up next to me and falling into step as we walked to the small alcove that held a dumpster. It was the only place secluded enough for us to transform. "What happened to _low profile_?"

I shrugged. "What happened to '_I don't give a fuck'_?"

"Are you done?"

Was I done? That Celeste bitch had insulted Brittany. And Brittany was mine, and no one insulted what was mine without consequence. And speaking of which, Brittany had been showing too much attention to that fucking twit version of me- it was time she spent some time with the hotter, more badass, upgraded version.

"Yeah," I answered. I focused on my kite. It was time to go home to reclaim Brittany from that sissy.

It was time to take back what was mine.

* * *

**SANTANA**

**/**

I sighed against Brittany's shoulder, admiring her painted toes from where we were lying on our bed. She had somehow managed to keep the paint through her transformation- like, I don't even know how. She was pretty amazing and talented, and I was always so impressed with her transformations; she always looked so beautiful and flawless, and I just couldn't believe how someone so brave and wonderful and beautiful managed to end up with me, and-

I was suddenly plagued by a horrible thought. What if she liked the other me better? I mean, she had spent most of her time with me, but that's because Snix had been so off-putting, and I'd been needy and clingy, and what if Brittany got tired of it? What if she realized I was a coward, just like everyone else had? What if she wanted someone as brave as her? She would leave me, and then I would be alone, and I just couldn't be alone, I'd rather Snix just kill me-

I clutched Brittany tighter and she pressed a kiss to the top of my head. I bit my lip.

"Do you-" I started, but my voice came out wobbly, so I cleared my throat. "Do you like Snix better than me?"

Brittany was silent for a moment, and I chewed my lip nervously, wondering what that silence meant. She did, didn't she? She liked Snix better, of course she did. She needed someone strong and brave, not pathetic like me, not clingy, and-

"Santana, I like _you_. Both of you make up who you are, and-"

"Brittany, I'm home!" Snix announced as she burst through the door to the bedroom. Her eyes fell to me and I instantly froze in my spot against Brittany. "You," she barked, snapping her fingers at me. She pointed to the floor. "Off. _Now_."

I scrambled to comply, because I really didn't want to fight Snix. She would destroy me, and then I would be dead, and I didn't want to die. The floor wasn't so bad.

"Snix, be nice to your other self," Brittany chided, sitting up and giving Snix a disapproving look. She glanced at me, apologetic, and I tried to return her smile-

"Oh, Brittany," Snix laughed, openly leering at Brittany. I squirmed. I didn't like her tone, or how she was looking at Brittany like she was a possession. Brittany should be treasured, you know? "You won't be needing that pathetic side of me anymore. I can see the appeal in keeping two of me around, but don't worry- I will more than satisfy you."

Brittany blushed brightly and I felt my stomach turning cold, my eyes dropping to the floor. I couldn't think about Brittany being with anyone else, even if that someone was technically still me- as weird as it sounded, would that even be cheating, or-

"No, Snix, I like Santana, and I wish you were nicer to her," Brittany said firmly, and I raised my gaze back up to where Brittany had her head turned, avoiding Snix's aggressive kiss, and my heart thudded at Brittany's loyalty; she liked me, she wanted me-

"Oh, fine," Snix huffed. She looked at me, forced a polite smile. "Santana, you are a- beautiful- person."

I beamed. "Thanks, Snix." Compliments made me feel really nice, I needed to remember to give them out more-

Snix rolled her eyes and turned back to Brittany, and my stomach plummeted again at how fake Snix was. I shifted uncomfortably on the floor as I watched Snix kiss and suck roughly at Brittany's neck, her hands groping Brittany's body. Brittany flinched and tried not to respond, but her hips rolled up into Snix's, and it was so awkward watching them, and it made me sad. Did I really think of Brittany like that? Like she was just a sexual object for me to get off on? I had always thought I was so careful about Brittany's feelings, but apparently, watching Snix completely disregard Brittany's emotions in favor of physical pleasure proved that I at least had the capacity to ignore them. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't watch.

"Snix-" I heard Brittany protest. There was a rustle of fabric. "This is weird," Brittany breathed.

"Is it because Wuss-tana is in the room?" Snix asked, and I swallowed, suddenly afraid. "I'll make her leave-"

"No- please-" Brittany pleaded. "Just- can we wait until you're yourself again?"

Snix sighed with irritation and I raised my gaze cautiously as she shifted and sat up. "I'm not going back to what I was," Snix snapped. "So you'd better get used to this. And I have _needs_, Brittany- so you'd better start fulfilling them, or I'll find someone who will." She stood up and moved towards the door, pausing to kick my leg angrily on the way out.

I rolled away from her and she slammed the door on her exit. I rubbed my leg and glanced up at Brittany, who was biting her lip, looking as sad as I felt. I suddenly wondered what it must be like for _her_- what if I was in her place, and had to witness Brittany split in two? Would her halves be as drastic as mine? Would she just be all Andalite and all human? I couldn't imagine Brittany having a Snix inside of her, a dark side struggling to be released. I shook my head and felt tears coming again. I hated feeling so insecure and unsure of myself, I hated Snix, and I hated the fact that I was such a crybaby.

Brittany slid down to the floor and wrapped me up in her arms. She hushed me, stroked my hair, cradled me against her.

When she kissed my temple, I felt a little better.

* * *

**SNIXXX**

**/**

"I knew you'd need my help eventually," I bragged to Grouper Face as we sat around the usual meeting room. He and the others had come back fruitless, because let's face it- I wasn't on the mission, so of course it failed.

"We didn't find anything on the _Vermithrax_," Trouty Mouth admitted, ignoring my comment. "But we did figure out how to destroy the Community Center."

"We're going to blow it up," Stubbles confirmed, shooting Brittany a glance. What the fuck?

"Don't fucking look at her," I told Stubbles. "Don't you fucking _dare_."

Stubbles blinked at me, appalled, but Brittany was chiming in, "Yes. _Please_ don't."

I grinned. She had obviously learned her lesson. Good girl.

"Wait- you rejected _my_ suggestion to set a fire, and instead opted for something _more_ dangerous? You have _got_ to be kidding me," Quinn said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"We can set a bomb and then exit the building, it's not the same as being trapped inside," Fishlips explained.

"We could throw a firebomb, too," Quinn countered.

"What are you, an arsonist now?" Lady Gay laughed.

"We don't want the whole city on fire, Quinn," Wheezy said with a grin.

Quinn smirked and offered them a shrug, and I smiled at her. I liked Quinn's thought process. Maybe there were some things about Quinn that I had never noticed before, but they were definitely becoming more appealing to me.

"Okay, so where do we get a bomb?" 'Brows asked. I rolled my eyes.

"More like, how do we make one," Trouty said with a big-lipped grin.

"There's about a million YouTube videos out there on how to make bombs," Stubbles explained. "So I'm going to watch a few, get a list of materials to Sugar, and then we'll be in business. Simple."

"Somehow this all seems too easy," Lady Gay said with a shake of his head.

"Well, we still don't know what to do about Santana," Mercedes pointed out.

"Yeah, about that," Trouty started hesitantly. He looked at Brittany. "I need you down there, we can't access the computers."

"Sam," Brittany said seriously, and Trouty shook his head.

"I know- that's why Santana is going to come with us this time."

"What?!" I raged. No way was that weakling going on the mission while I sat at home with _Team Gay_ again! No fucking way!

"What?" Wuss-tana asked, her voice small and puny like her. "No." She shook her head back and forth, quickly, like a fucking pathetic loser. "No, no, no."

"San," Brittany said gently, reaching out to stroke my puss twin's shoulder. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't want to go back down there," Wuss-tana whimpered. "Please, please don't make me." She started crying, and I literally could not hold back my eye roll if I tried. Brittany attempted to soothe the whiney bitch, but there was no soothing that pitiful mess of a person.

I felt angrier the longer I watched. Trouty really wanted to bring that shivering, fainthearted girl over all of the awesome that I was? I growled. "Take _me_, Sam!" I demanded. "I'll go down there! I'll destroy every last-"

"No, Snix," Trouty said calmly, shaking his head. "You're too unpredictable. I can't count on you down there."

"You can't count on that sniveling _coward_," I sneered, stabbing my finger at my weaker half, who was still crying.

"At least she isn't _crazy_," Stubbles muttered.

"Do you want to die, cripple?" I snapped. I could make his wish come true, if that's what it was.

Stubbles glared at me. "I'm not crippled anymore."

"That's about to change if you open your fucking mouth one more time."

Stubbles made the right decision, and it was silent for a minute, except for the sobs of my puss twin, who I was starting to loathe the existence of. I looked over at her, watching as Brittany cupped her cheek and whispered something reassuringly to her. She gave her a gentle kiss, and I finally fucking lost it. What the fuck? Brittany wouldn't even kiss me, but she'll kiss that idiotic spineless twit?

I stood, fuming, and suddenly wondered- why did everyone look at me like _I_ was the problem? Why did they choose Wuss-tana's side every time? Did I need to break out in pathetic tears and whine and snivel to earn their love? Did I even _care_ about their love? I just didn't fucking get it. I was so much stronger, so much tougher, so much _better_ than that other part of me. They should've been worshipping the ground I walked on, not shunning me for it. But instead I was being left out of missions, I was being blue-balled by Brittany, and the only one who seemed to treat me nicely was Quinn-

I smiled at Quinn, who returned it. She just _got_ me. Maybe I could get _her_ to stay home from the mission. It'd be the only way I would stay put, too.

* * *

**SANTANA**

**/**

We sat around making plans for a little bit, but I couldn't focus or concentrate on anything other than what Sam had said. He was bringing me back down to the lab! That meant I had to transform again, and I really didn't want to do that- I really hoped it wasn't too late to tell Sam that I wanted to become Sugar's assistant, because I definitely didn't want to go on the mission, I mean, it was scary enough the first time- I had almost _died_- and I didn't want to run the risk of dying again, I didn't want to die-

"Easy, San," Brittany murmured, looking down at me. I had my head resting in her lap, and she was stroking my hair, and I felt a lot safer in her arms like this, but I guess she must have felt my squirming- I had a tendency to fidget when I was anxious, and I was definitely anxious about the mission, I mean, why couldn't Sam just take Snix? She _wanted_ to go.

I chewed my lip nervously.

Sugar entered the room after a few moments of heated discussion, waving a packet of papers in her hand. Her pet sugar glider was riding on her shoulder, and I really wanted to pet it. Sugar tossed the packet down on the coffee table and smirked. "Don't say I never gave you anything."

"What's this?" Blaine asked, picking up the papers and looking at them.

Sugar rolled her eyes. "It's the information on the _Vermithrax_ that you idiots couldn't find." She paused. "Sorry, Asperger's."

"How did you get this?" Sam demanded, snatching the papers out of Blaine's hand and scanning them himself.

Sugar shrugged. "Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff when you're as rich as I am."

Mercedes blinked. "What does that even mean?"

Sugar smirked. "Terri got it for me."

"Terri?" Kurt demanded. "I thought you _took care_ of her."

Sugar laughed, as if we were simple-minded children that amused her. Maybe we were. There was an awful lot of stuff we didn't know about the Yeerks, or about Sugar and her connections. "Oh- we took care of her _Yeerk_. The host is perfectly fine."

"Wait- how did you get the Yeerk out of her head?" Quinn asked.

Sugar rolled her eyes. "With the _Yeerkbane_ of course."

Brittany's head snapped up. "You have one?!"

"Yeah, duh. How else would we take care of traitors?"

"Hold up, what's a _Yeerkbane_?" Mercedes asked.

"It's a creature that eats Yeerks by attaching its mouth to the side of the host's head and then sucking the Yeerk out," Brittany explained. I shivered. That sounded awful! We were all quiet for a moment, grimacing and cringing.

Arty cleared his throat. "So you gave Terri a new Yeerk?"

Sugar put on her best patient smile and then burst into a dramatic speech. "Of course. We have a tank full of loyal followers- been snatching them off the battlefields, you see. My spy on the inside, Joe- well, he's been scoping out those Yeerks unsatisfied with their lives and the war- the Yeerks that are tired of the political corruption and the injustice of it all- the Yeerks looking for better, more fulfilling lives. He offers for them to join our side, but they can't just _leave_, you know? So they get their host bodies killed in battle with _you_, they bail and we scoop them. That way Visser Seven thinks they're dead, and no one is the wiser. Pretty brilliant, huh?"

Quinn shook her head incredulously. "Yeah, actually. Wow."

"It's a lot more complicated than I made it sound, but really, who has time to listen to all that? I just let Lauren handle it. You know, we could use more hosts. If any of your _parents_…"

"No," Kurt snapped immediately.

Sugar lifts her hand to calm him. "Relax, it was just a suggestion."

"An awful one," Kurt hisses.

Sugar shrugged. "Whatever. I just figured maybe they'd like to _contribute_ to this war instead of sitting around bored out of their minds. The outcome affects them, too." She paused to let that sink in, and I nuzzled my cheek further against Brittany's thigh. I didn't like all of this heavy thinking, it was depressing. "Well, anyway," Sugar continued, her tone considerably brighter, "there's the info you need. I have some big news, too, but it hasn't actually been confirmed yet. I'll have to talk to Brenda and make sure that it's legit before I bother to tell you guys."

"Well that was just useless, then," Snix snarled, and I nearly jumped in surprise- I had forgotten she was in the room, she'd been so unusually quiet.

"Isn't she fixed yet?" Sugar asked, reaching up to pet her marsupial.

Mercedes shook her head. "That's why we needed the information."

"Right. Well. I've gotta go," Sugar said with a flourish of her hand. "Only so much _bitch_ I can handle, you know?"

"Of course," Quinn said dryly, and I didn't miss the way Snix smiled at her. I cringed. Did Snix suddenly have a thing for Quinn? I shook my head, confused. If Snix had a thing for Quinn, that meant the old me had had feelings somewhere deep down for her, right? No, that can't be right. Snix didn't do feelings. I'm pretty sure I was the one who got stuck with the capacity for those. Which meant that Snix's attraction to Quinn was purely on the physical level. _If_ she was even looking at Quinn like I thought she was-

And yeah, she totally was, ugh. Quinn shook her head at Snix's obvious leering, and I hoped Brittany didn't see, because I didn't want Brittany to reach any conclusions. It was just too complicated to explain. I glanced at Brittany, who was perusing the packet Sugar had left, and heaved a silent sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Brittany sat up. "This is it," she said, her voice high and excited. "I think I've figured out what caused the split."

"Well, spill it," Blaine encouraged.

"Yes, we're all just dying to know so that it never happens again," Kurt added.

"Yeah, really- I can't imagine two Kurts," Quinn teased, and Snix gave her another grin. It made me uneasy. Like, in a way, I was glad, because that meant I could probably have Brittany to myself. But then it also kind of made me wonder if it was cheating, in a way. I hadn't figured that out yet. This whole being split in two thing was really confusing, and-

"'The specimen from Sector 23, RG-258-15'- that's the _Vermithrax_," Brittany explained.

"Yes, _obviously_," Snix said with a roll of her eyes. I glared at her.

"Well, it 'has uncharted regenerative capabilities,'" Brittany said, ignoring Snix's jibe. She paused. "Uncharted regenerative capabilities," she repeated. "It can regenerate!"

"What does that mean?" Mercedes asked.

"It means it can heal itself," Arty said. "Like- a starfish. If you chop off its limb, it can grow a new one, and sometimes even a whole new starfish."

"So, somehow, when Santana got cut in half, the regeneration ability of the _Vermithrax_ must've kicked in, and caused her to regenerate into a whole new person? And then that new person transformed back, resulting in two Santanas?" Quinn asked. She looked amazed. I felt pretty amazed, too.

"It seems so," Brittany confirmed with a nod.

"That's great, but how do we fix it?" Kurt asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I have a few theories," Brittany said. "Now that I know what caused the split, I think I might be able to create something that can mimic the high output of energy expelled during the transforming process in order to meld the two halves back into a singular unit."

"So… you're basically going to deliver a shock to the two Santanas and hope that they merge?" Arty asked. I bit my lip at the word _shock_. I definitely didn't like the thought of that at all.

Brittany nodded. "More or less, though there are some other more complicated aspects to it."

"Well, I'm game. The worst that can happen is that they both die, right?" Kurt said.

"Not funny," Quinn said sourly, frowning at Kurt.

"I'm not trying to be. We can't deal with either of these Santanas. One's a violent psychopath, and the other- no offense- is a whimpering pussy." I tried not to be offended at Kurt's words, but- they still stung. I bit my lip.

"Let's leave Brittany to that, then. We have our work cut out for us building this bomb," Sam said. He looked at me. "Looks like you don't have to go back down to the lab with us, after all."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but only a small one. I still hadn't forgotten the word _shock_.

* * *

**SNIXXX**

**/**

"I just don't get it, Q," I complained, sitting on her bed. It was way later in the day, after our lame meeting, and Sam and the others had gone to take care of bombing the ever-loving fuck out of the Community Center. I was still fuming inside at the fact that I didn't get to go, but at least I had Quinn to keep me company. "Why does everyone like _her_ better?"

Quinn shrugged. "I guess they just don't really know how to handle you, Snix. You're pretty aggressive and it's really intimidating to them. Keep in mind that before all of this _Transformers_ stuff happened, you and I were the hot bitches in charge, ruling the school- and _they_ were all the pathetic losers worshipping the ground we walked on." I nodded, grinning wryly. I remembered those days- and I really missed them. I mean, don't get me wrong- I wouldn't give up the power I had now, or the involvement I had in fighting this war, because it was such an adrenaline rush, like, seriously, _nothing_ could compare- but I vaguely wondered what life would be like if it had _stayed_ just me and Quinn, ruling the school together.

It seemed kind of awesome.

And boring.

And I guess _technically_ I wouldn't even have existed on my own, if I'd never become a _Transformer_- I'd still be a part of that wimpy girl I despised.

Ugh. What a relief.

"Now that all of this weird stuff has happened, it's a little hard for them to deal with so much awesome," Quinn continued. "And your twin, well. She's kind of passive, less abrasive. Nicer."

"But even when I was myself, I was never _nice_, so they should be used to me being a bitch by now," I grumbled, crossing my arms.

Quinn chuckled. "True. But now there's literally _nothing_ holding back your insults. It's kind of glorious."

I smiled at her. "Well, at least you get me."

"Of course," she nodded. "You're my best friend."

I let my smile turn mischievous. Time to make my move. "You know, you could be _more_ than that," I suggested, sliding closer to her on the bed. Quinn raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Thanks, but- I'm really not that into that," Quinn said with a smirk, and I sat, stunned. Did Quinn just reject me?

"Whatever," I snapped, rolling my eyes. The rejection stung. A lot. Damn. From Quinn, though? "I just thought you understood me."

Quinn gave me a surprised look. "I do understand you, I just-"

I stood up. "Whatever," I repeated, harsher. I didn't need her, anyways. I didn't need _anyone_. "Like I'd be into you, anyways."

Quinn blinked, looking a cross between hurt and shocked, but I mean, who cares? She was pathetic anyways. I strode defiantly over to her door, yanked it open and then left. She called after me, but fuck that, I didn't have time for people who didn't appreciate me or do what I wanted. And I was suddenly realizing that that meant I didn't have time for _any_ of these people. They obviously didn't appreciate my awesome qualities, which meant one thing- it was time to find a new group of people to hang with.

As I reached my door, I thought hard. Was there anyone I was going to miss?

Well, Puck- but he was Visser Seven, so it's not like I could take him with me.

I frowned. And Brittany. I'd probably miss her, too. Probably.

But, whatever- she made her choice! She chose the _twit_. And I was no one's _second_ best. I wasn't _side _action. I was the main squeeze, or I was nothing.

I steeled myself and pushed the door of my room open, then stormed inside.

The lesser half was lying back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. I guess she was, I dunno, thinking or something? I rolled my eyes. This bitch was so fucking lame.

Her eyes snapped to me when I came in, and I smirked, taking immense pleasure as they widened in fear and she scrambled to sit up.

"H-hey," she said timidly.

I snapped my fingers and pointed at the floor, raising an eyebrow. Bitch didn't even deserve a greeting- it would just be a waste of time and words. Her face fell, and she reluctantly crawled off the bed and sat on the floor. I laughed, then moved to the closet, feeling her eyes following my every move.

"You're not even going to sit on the bed?" She asked, sounding slightly confused that I made her get off of it for no reason.

I shrugged, then turned around to deliver my insult while looking straight at her. "I just didn't want _you_ on it. You'd contaminate it with your pathetic loser germs."

She bit her lip and averted her eyes. "Why do you have to be so mean?"

"_Why do you have to be so mean_," I repeated, mocking her.

The twit shook her head slowly, then looked up at me. She took a deep breath, as if gathering the courage to say something, and I waited. After a moment, she said, "I can't believe you were ever a part of me."

I snorted. _That's_ what she wanted to say? I smirked at her. "I feel the same way, _pansy_." She was silent, but it was too late. I was already irritated- at her presence, at her existence, at her _face_, really. Somehow it looked so much more pathetic on _her_- it was insulting. "I can't believe a skinny, scrimpy, cowardly mouse like you was ever even a fraction of a powerful, hot, flawless bitch like me."

"You have the same body as me-"

"Except you're _pathetic_," I told her, lowering my voice to a dangerous register, and bending forward so that I was closer to her face, towering over her. She scooted away until her back hit the edge of the bed. She was trapped. I smiled inside. Her eyes were already beginning to water, and it felt so good cutting her down, so I continued. "You're weak, you're ugly, and no one even notices you without me. Do you think your so-called _friends_ out there would like you if they didn't have me to compare you to? The only reason they even know you're alive is because I'm so intimidating and awesome. You? You're forgettable. You're undesirable. You're _invisible_."

My twin bit her lip and glared at me, but I could see the tears in her eyes. "Stop," she whispered. Was that supposed to be intimidating? She was even worse than I thought!

I shook my head slowly. "Can't handle a few truth bombs, huh? Of course not. Why don't you just go kill yourself, and save me the trouble. The others like you better, but if you weren't around they wouldn't have a choice. They'd come to their senses." I paused. That was a great idea! I didn't need to leave and find new friends- I just needed to get rid of _her_. I nodded, "Yeah. Just kill yourself. I'll help you do it if you want."

"No," she whimpered. Then, in a stronger voice, she said, "No, I won't." She clenched the hem of her shirt nervously, but kept her voice steady and, surprisingly, angry as she said, "You're such a bitch. How _could_ Brittany- or _anyone_- love you when you're so unpleasant to be around?" She raised her voice more and I was shocked when she continued. "Do you think you're worthy of her? Or anyone?"

I shrugged, growing angry myself. "Once you're dead it won't matter-"

"Well, I w-won't let you treat Brittany the way you have been." I watched her throat bob as she swallowed.

"And what do you think _you're_ going to do about it? You wouldn't last a second against me!" I laughed and flicked her ear to prove a point. She flinched, but didn't lower her eyes.

"She won't fall into your arms if I'm gone- you've pushed her away, pushed _everyone_ away-"

"Who cares? I don't need anyone. I'm flawless-"

"And alone. And lonely."

I swallowed, feeling my throat constricting. She was- _right_, but why was this so hard to take? "Well you're a coward," I shot back lamely.

"I can be brave for my friends," Wuss-tana said steadily. "But I don't think you can stop being _awful_."

I glared at her. "So what do you want, then? You want _me_ to be the one to kill myself? I'm supposed to just die? I'm supposed to just give up who I am?"

"No- you're supposed to let me balance you out."

"That's even more pathetic. I think I'd rather just kill myself," I snapped. What was she even saying? She wanted us to merge again? She wanted me to go back to being who I was- with _her_?

Admittedly- and if you tell anyone this, I'll fucking kill you- there aren't a lot of things I'm scared of, but I'm scared of _that_. I mean, how do you go from being a separate living, breathing person, to being… nothing? I would lose who I was, wouldn't I? I mean, I would die, in a way. But I _wouldn't_. It was confusing, and scary, and I would be gaining all of her qualities again. I'd be submitting myself to weakness, to cowardice, to vulnerability, to- to I didn't even know what, because I didn't really know my twin all that well. My memories of who I was before I existed on my own were vague. (Not that I'd spent much time thinking about it, I wasn't a loser.) I knew that my twin had been a part of me- a fucking lame part, but a part, still- I just didn't want to accept how big of a part she really was. She was half. _Half_. Half of me had been a whining, crying, pathetic mess, and the other half of me had been flawless, and, well, obviously harsh- but understandingly so, because people just _need_ to be told when they suck, you know?

It was silent for a moment, and then the door opened again, and Brittany walked in. Her eyes fell to me, and then to Wuss-tana cowering on the floor, and she immediately froze.

"Shit- San-" Her gaze fell accusingly to me, and I couldn't actually believe her eyes could hurt me so much. "Snix: what did you do?" she demanded.

"Me?" I raged. "Why the fuck do you think _I_ did something?" I shook my head bitterly. My stupid twin was right. Brittany did hate me. She wanted nothing to do with me. Maybe I _was_ the problem. I looked at Brittany's face, which had softened considerably, and tried to swallow- it was hard, because my throat was constricting for some stupid reason. "You know what? I- I've had it. I'm leaving-"

"No!" the stupid loser said sharply from the floor. She looked fearful, desperate. "Please- I- I need you. You can't leave."

"You _do_ need me," I told her resentfully. "But I don't need you."

"Yes, you do," Brittany said quietly. She reached to put her hand on me but I pulled violently out of her grasp.

"Don't," I snapped. "It doesn't matter. You like her better, anyway-"

"I love _all_ of you," Brittany said, her blue eyes bright with passion. Sounds lame, I know, but it's really the only way I could describe them. "Even the bad parts," she continued. She looked at Wuss-tana and took her hand. Then she reached for mine, and I tentatively let her hold it. "I love that you're weak and fragile sometimes, and reckless and brave other times. I love that you're mean and I love that you're sensitive. I love every part of you- _both_ of you- and- and I just want you back," Brittany finished, her voice cracking at the end, and I felt my heart clench just slightly. What the fuck was this feeling? Was I having a heart attack or something?

I took a deep breath, shaking my head, trying to clear it. Brittany loved me. Even after how I'd treated her, even after everything I'd said to my other half, and to our friends, she just wanted me back. She could kill me easily and just keep the weak, sensitive half- but she wanted us back together again, wanted us whole.

I felt gratitude, and some other emotion that I couldn't quite name. I looked at Santana, who had stood up and was holding Brittany's hand with both of hers like it was her lifeline. She looked back at me hopefully, and I sighed.

"Okay," I consented, feeling sadness wash through me. Had I just agreed to die?

Brittany smiled, and Santana did, too, and I averted my eyes for a moment before I looked back up at Brittany. "But- before I do this," I started slowly. I took a step closer to Brittany. I swallowed, feeling stupid, feeling too many things, _feeling_. What the fuck were these feelings? I was so depressed all of a sudden. Like I had just agreed to sacrifice myself on some sort of suicide mission. And maybe I had. I couldn't be sure that I was going to still be me. I was going to be _her_, too, and I just- I needed to-

I reached up, cupping Brittany's face gently, getting lost in her eyes, her perfect blue eyes. She really was the most beautiful fucking girl. I licked my lips, tugged her to me, and kissed her.

She hesitated only a brief moment before she returned the kiss, letting go of Santana's hand to wrap her arms around my neck, and I forced myself to be gentle and tender as I let my tongue find hers. We kissed for a long moment, and I didn't care if it was awkward for Santana to watch.

Because I knew that Brittany _needed_ me to reunite with Santana- let's face it, that girl was a whimpering scaredy-cat without me. And Brittany_said_ she loved me, regardless of how mean and cold I was…

Still, I couldn't help but wonder- did she, really?

Or did she just need my bravery?

Does anyone ever _really_ love the darkest parts of someone?

* * *

**SANTANA**

**/**

I let go of Snix's hand from where I'd been holding it in a handshake, and took a deep breath.

I was so, so scared.

Brittany had reassured us- okay, _me_- at least a billion times that- well, yeah, it was going to hurt like a bitch, but that it would _probably_ result in Snix and I merging back together.

Probably.

"It's a 98.32675 percent success rate," Brittany had said with a firm nod.

I didn't feel so good about that other 1.67325 percent. But what choice did I have?

The others had just returned from the mission, and I guess it had gone pretty well, I mean, I was mostly distracted because like, honestly, I was about to face my potential total death, and if not my total death than at least a partial death because I was going to merge with someone who despised me and loathed my existence and become part of the person while that person simultaneously became part of me-

I tried not to think about it.

But it was really hard, considering Brittany had attached a very thin metal wire to my chest, right above my heart.

She had told me and Snix to acquire each other, which we'd done by shaking hands. The others had gathered around and already said their good-byes and good lucks- just in case we didn't make it. Reassuring, right? I swallowed.

Okay, don't think about it.

"Santana," Brittany said softly. I snapped my eyes to her, and she reached out and gently stroked her thumb down my cheek. It made me feel a little better, but I was still panicking inside. "It'll be okay," she said softly. She leaned forward and kissed my lips briefly, then rested her forehead against mine. "I love you," she whispered. "I'll see you soon."

I nodded, gulping.

Don't think about it.

Once she double-checked my wire, she went over to Snix and kissed her, whispering something to her, too. I guess it was probably what she told me, I don't know. I was too busy thinking about-

Don't think about it!

"Okay, I'm going to count to three, and then I'm going to flip the switch, and I want you to think about transforming into the other person," Brittany said like it was no big deal. Like we weren't about to maybe die. "Join hands again."

I reached forward and took Snix's hand, and she squeezed mine briefly. I offered her a small smile.

"See you on the other side, I guess?" I said.

She nodded, her eyes sad. "I guess."

I took a deep breath.

"One…"

"Focus," Quinn urged from nearby. "I'll help talk you through it."

"Two…"

I felt my hand squeezing Snix's harder. My arm was trembling.

"Keep it together," Snix growled.

I nodded, and-

"Three."

"Aaaagh!" I cried. Oh, my God! I was on _fire_! Like, all of my nerves were on fire, and I couldn't even move, I was paralyzed, I was _dying_-

"Transform!" Quinn said firmly. "Focus! Think about the change."

I managed to squeeze my eyes shut, and I tried to do what Quinn said, but it was _so painful_-

"Think about your eyes, your hair," Quinn said. Her voice was the only thing making me hold on to consciousness. White-hot electricity flowed through my limbs, and my grip on Snix's hand was deathly tight. I focused hard and felt my hand literally _melting_-

I trembled. I thought about my lips. I thought about my brown eyes. I thought about my smooth, tan skin, and my flat stomach, and my average-sized boobs, and my thighs, and-

And-

And-

* * *

"…Santana?"

I was on my hands and knees, shaking. Brittany crouched down in front of me, stroking some hair off my face- hesitant, cautious, but reassuring, loving. Her touch kept me together. _She_ kept me together.

I swallowed, my thoughts scattered. _Everywhere_. I was-

Alive.

I looked up, trying to focus, catching her eyes. Her blue, sparkling eyes.

She cupped my face and leaned her forehead against mine, her eyes so close, so loving. I shook my head slightly. Loving?

Brittany had seen parts of me that I had never wanted her to see. And those parts weren't _gone_- they were just back inside me, they were just hidden again, unless I chose to release them. I had been exposed, completely. All of my insecurities, the parts of myself that I was ashamed of, the dark parts- she had seen them, had felt them, had been hurt by them. I swallowed back tears.

Could Brittany still love me- knowing what she knew about me?

Could anyone?

* * *

**Okay, so up until now my chapter 9s have been from Guest POVs, and I had a special Guest POV chapter planned, but since this storyline had to be split into 2 parts, it threw off the pattern, lmao. Although I guess Snixxx counts as a guest POV?**

**Anyways, you guys will still get another Guest POV next chapter... wonder who it could be? ;)**

**Well, review if you have any thoughts or just want to tell me that you hated this storyline. It was based off of _Animorphs_ #32, in which Rachel morphed a starfish, but I couldn't for the life of me think of any reason or place where Santana would morph a starfish, and to be honest, there's not many animals on Earth that have regenerative capabilites like starfish do, except for like amoebas or hydras that are microscopic and live in the ocean. Which is why I had to create the _Vermithrax,_ lmao. Not sure yet if I'll have Santana return to that form, ever- it was kind of a traumatizing experience, eh?**

**Thanks for reading! Might not be on time next week, but who knows. I might find time to write this weekend. **

**See you soon though!**


	30. No Good Deed

**Sup guys. Sorry I'm late, but- it's not Monday yet, so I still made this week's update! I guess?**

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, enjoyed, barfed from, flailed over, and shook their head disgustedly at the last chapter. You're all the world to me. 8)~ (OH U C WUt I DID THERE)**

**Super short chapter is super short, and very choppy, because I didn't want to go through the last ten chapters completely, just touch on some of it. I also didn't want to spend forever, as usual, just touch on the subject. So hopefully that's not too disappointing for you guys.**

* * *

"Your incompetence is growing tiresome, Edram Two-Seven-Nine," my mouth said, sounding bored. I didn't want to witness the scene in front of me, but dude, trust me when I say, it was literally impossible not to. "I've done everything I possibly can to ensure your success- yet you fail me, every. Single. Time."

"Please forgive me, Visser," Rachel- or rather, the Yeerk _inside_ Rachel- begged. "Give me another chance, I swear to you-"

"Another chance?" my mouth laughed. "I have already given you too many chances. The stupid transforming humans keep messing up my awesome plans. They kept us from infesting that Bieber moron. They stopped the opening of the Community Center with a bomb- a _bomb_, Edram Two-Seven-Nine- and that's bad publicity."

"I know, Visser, and I promise I will work harder to stop the transforming humans," Rachel babbled reassuringly.

"You know what _I_ think?" I asked calmly. "I think you're _already_ working as hard as you can." My arm motioned a nearby Hork-Bajir over. The Hork-Bajir stepped forward and violently forced Rachel to her knees, bringing his wrist blade up to her temple, preparing to cut into her head-

"No, Visser, please, please don't-!"

I cringed inwardly. _Dude, don't. If you kill her it will piss off the _Transformers_ even more._

_You keep saying that, but yet- what is she to them? There is no love lost from any of them in your memories. In fact, many of them despise her. They won't even know she is missing._

_That's not true._ I struggled to think up reasons why the others would be upset over Rachel's death, struggled to call up memories to the forefront of my mind. We all _knew_ her. We all may not have necessarily liked her, but she was still someone we knew, someone whose death, whether she was liked or not, would cause us to be upset about. Or something. _Right? If you spare her, you can at least keep her as a trophy, rub it in their faces-_

_You are a fool. I will spare her- again._

_Can't you kill just her Yeerk?_

_Edram Two-Seven-Nine is far more valuable than the host, you idiotic human._

_Woah. Chill out! It was just a suggestion._

I raised my hand at the Hork-Bajir, who pulled his wrist blade away slightly, but kept his iron-lock grip on Rachel, who was crying and begging to be spared. "I will give you one more chance, Edram Two-Seven-Nine."

Rachel looked up. "Oh, thank you, thank you, Visser-"

"But if you fuck up again," I warned angrily, "I _promise_ you- I will have Iliss One-One-Five cut you out of that host's head. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"No, Visser, _no_-"

"Of course not." I waved my hand disdainfully at the Hork-Bajir, and he dragged Rachel roughly to her feet and towards the door. "Now get out of my sight."

"Thank you, Visser, you won't regret it, I _swear_-"

The door closed.

_For both our sakes, I hope that fool succeeds in this task._

_Me, too, dude._

* * *

I had lost track of the days. The only number of days I kept track of was three. When would I be free again? If only for a moment? I spent a lot of time in my thoughts- they were the only thing I had total control over, you know? No privacy, but…

I wondered a lot about what the others were doing, what they were planning next, where they even _were_, since Sugar's Mansion had been destroyed. They were still alive, obviously, since they were causing constant trouble for us-

No. No. _Them_. The Yeerks. I was a _Transformer_. Not a Yeerk. Right?

Not a Yeerk.

Anyways. I wondered a lot about what their next mission was. And when the next mission would be coming to save _me_. I fantasized about it a lot. It kind of pissed _him_ off, but, like _I_ fucking cared, you know? I mean, I _only_ had my thoughts. No privacy, but…

I wondered why it was taking them so long. I tried not to get discouraged, tried not to lose hope. But I was losing track of the days. How many had it been? Two? One more day, and then…

Anyways. I didn't want to die like this. I didn't want this to be my only destiny, my only purpose, you know? I didn't want people to remember me this way. But it was hard. I also kind of didn't want to keep living like this. It was a constant battle. I'd seen things, man. Like-

And people just knew. People I'd known in school, who were now Controllers- they recognized me, and then they _recognized_ me. I wondered if the hosts, the real people- did they pity me?

I mean, I was used to being famous, before all this. I had a pretty badass reputation, and every girl in school knew my name- had screamed my name at one point or another, _hah_. I was a certified badass and everyone knew it. So fame? It didn't bother me.

What _had _bothered me was the fact that I felt like, despite everything I'd done, I was going to get stuck in this lame-ass town. That deep down, I wasn't destined for great things- just failure, like my dead-beat old man. Nobody wants to be a loser, but for me, it was more personal than that, like some _V for Vendetta_ shit. I had a legacy to leave.

Now, things are different. I don't worry about leaving this town anymore. Dude, my problems are way bigger than that, way more serious. In fact, maybe you know of my problems already. Maybe you're a Controller. Maybe you already know my name- maybe you've screamed it before.

I've been called a lot of things- Best Left Tackle William McKinley Has Ever Seen, Loser, Legendary Sex Shark, _Transformer_…

Now, I don't worry about not being destined for great things. Now, a vast majority of the universe knows my face, knows my name. Knows my power, knows who I am.

I'm Noah Puckerman, and I'm the host of one of the most infamous Yeerks in history.

I'm the host of Visser Seven.

* * *

I had tried to keep track of the days, at first. I didn't think I'd be a host for so long. I thought- sure, they were gonna come get me just as soon as they got all our parents out, got settled somewhere safe, and regrouped. I knew they were coming. They were. They definitely were.

But days turned into weeks, into months. I think? And then, all I could keep track of was the three days. When my thoughts would be my own again. But even then, they never truly were. When Visser Seven re-entered me, the first thing he did was peruse my most recent thoughts. But it was nice to trick myself into thinking I had privacy for the precious hours that I was myself.

My first few days were insane. I learned a lot about the Yeerks, about the war, about technology and shit I didn't even know existed. Like- right away, Visser Seven had a special bracelet made for me, so that I couldn't transform into a bug and crawl away while he was off swimming in the pool. I mean, it was smart on his part, but it sucked for me. The only ability I had to fight back was neutralized, and it was scary being just another powerless human host. I felt like they had found my Kryptonite, _so_ not cool.

Except- the others were coming for me, weren't they?

The others… I used to complain a lot about them, but I cared about them, and deep down, I missed them. It was lonely being Visser Seven's host, and reconnecting with my old human buddies didn't turn out exactly how I had planned.

I tried to talk to Finn pretty early in to my slavery. He had been beat up pretty badly, almost to the point of no return, the first time I saw him while I was infested. It concerned me, because I had no idea why the others would do that- because it was obviously _them_ that did it.

And then I found out the truth.

I was so overwhelmed with disgust my emotions overcame Visser Seven's control of my body, and he had to leave the meeting he was in to go throw up.

_Did you not expect a friend of yours would _volunteer_?_ He sneered with rage. I guess he was pissed that I made him lose control like that. _You're so self-righteous. You think humans don't crave things, too? Don't crave power?_

_Leave me alone_, I told him. I just couldn't believe it. Finn was my friend. No- my _best_ friend. We had drifted apart once our group had discovered he was a Controller, but- a _voluntary_ Controller? No way.

Visser Seven hadn't been happy about Finn's Yeerk being crushed. Apparently, that Yeerk had been a pretty high-ranking Yeerk in the hierarchy. Finn, being a voluntary host and extremely important to Kurt, couldn't be risked out in the open like that again. He was given to a much lesser Yeerk and assigned to some shit duty somewhere, which- good. That asshole deserved it.

Sometime late in my first week, though, I had a run-in with Finn. I was put in a cage pretty close to where the voluntary Controllers lounged around. Visser Seven was still working on building me my own special cage, and he was waiting for some parts to come in from space or something stupid like that, who knows.

I couldn't stop glaring at Finn.

"You got a problem?"

"Why'd you do it, dude?" I asked, not bothering to keep my loathing and disgust out of my voice. Finn got up from the chair he was sitting in, then walked over, returning my glare through the bars. His face still showed signs of the battle he had recently been in.

"Because I wanted to be cool," he said, and I felt that overwhelming feeling of revulsion coming over me. "Because I wanted to be popular, and so far, the Yeerks have kept to their promise. I have everything I ever wanted- people worship the ground I walk on at school."

"But you're not even _you_," I spat.

"I'm me enough to enjoy it," Finn said with a shrug.

"At the cost of your freedom? You're a moron, dude."

"_You're_ the one in the cage."

"Yeah, and I'm also the one who's doing the _right_ thing instead of the _shitty_ thing."

"It doesn't matter. I'm living the life I always wanted-"

"Yeah? Have you looked at your face lately?"

Finn snarled at me and moved closer. Perfect. "What do you know about it?" he challenged.

I smirked. "I know I'm going to _add_ to it." I reached through the bars and grabbed his shirt, tugging him forward. His head hit the bars with a clunk, and his face landed pressed between two of them. I cocked my fist back and punched him, feeling his nose break under my hand- owtch, that was going to hurt later- and his head flew backwards, but my fist on his shirt kept him against the bars.

I punched him again, and he reached through the bars at me, tried to grab my face, but I twisted out of his grasp as three Hork-Bajir rushed up on us.

"Stop!"

One of them yanked Finn out of my reach, the other one jabbed his arm into the cage.

"You! Back! Or I'll slice your head off!"

I laughed. "Do it! I'm sure Visser Seven would be totally pleased."

The Hork-Bajir glared at me, and I smirked and walked forward to press my throat to his wrist blade, but he jerked his arm back through the bars like I burned it. Hah. At least I had _some_ power.

"Come on," I encouraged, reaching through the bars to try and grab the Hork-Bajir's arm, but he jumped back out of my reach. "Just kill me! I'd rather be dead, anyways. Or are you too scared?"

The Hork-Bajir laughed. "You won't fool me, human. I won't face Visser Seven's wrath over this." He turned to Finn. "Get to the hospital wing, and learn to stay in your area."

Finn smirked at me, even though his nose was steadily bleeding into his cupped palm. "Have fun getting reinfested," he sneered, then turned away.

I clenched my fists.

If the _Transformers_ didn't somehow kill him before I was free, I'd kill him myself.

* * *

"Take his body down to the lab," I snarled angrily to two Hork-Bajir. Inside, I was a little creeped out at the sight of the Andalite's decapitated body. He'd taken his own life rather than become a Controller. I could dig that. I kind of admired the dude.

But Visser Seven was not happy. He had the blue box, but no way to use it. A team of Yeerk scientists were scrambling to analyze it and crack the security, but when the news came that they needed a specific Andalite- which I realized was probably Brittany- to unlock it, Visser Seven was on a fucking rampage. The Council of Thirteen- the bigwigs of Yeerk politics- was not happy either, and put a lot of pressure of Visser Seven to unlock the blue box.

_At least you still have me._

_How delightful_, he sneered.

Things didn't get better when the blue box, and Quinn, were both liberated from the Haverbrook tower. I'd known she was a Controller- in fact, the order to infest her had come from my own mouth- but I hadn't seen her once the deed had been done. Visser Seven had given her a very important Yeerk, and put her in charge of a very important mission- and now all of it was fucked, and Quinn was gone, as well as the blue box.

Shit just wasn't going Visser Seven's way.

It was kind of awesome.

I spent a lot of time thinking about Quinn. I kind of hoped she joined the _Transformers_- she'd make one hell of an adversary. Like a Lara Croft of Transforming. But I also didn't like thinking of her getting killed. I wondered what her avatar would be. Maybe she could be a-

_Do you ever stop with your idiotic thoughts about that pathetic human girl?_ Visser Seven snapped.

_Well it's not like I have anything else to do. _I mean, he had totally control of my body.

_ Your brooding is annoying, and useless._

_I am not _brooding_, _I said defensively._ Only wusses do that. _

Visser Seven laughed. _She's gone, and if we ever see her again, I'll be sure to order her death._

_Then you'll _really_ have to listen to me brood._

_Ugh. Truly my own personal hell. _

_Besides, at least I _have_ a girl to think about. You have no one._

_ Well, what is it you humans say? 'It's lonely at the top'? _

_ Right._

_ That prude girl doesn't even want you, and you're delusional if you think otherwise. Your feelings are misplaced._

_ We'll see. _

* * *

My days went on. And on. I tried to hold on to the times when I was free, and ignore the times when I was a slave. When I was free, I let my thoughts run in my head, thankful that there was no one else in there with me, although to be honest sometimes I wasn't completely sure. Especially when I started to lose track of how long I'd been a Controller. I was struggling to hold on to myself, but it was hard. Wait- did I tell you that already? Whatever.

And then I ran into Rachel again.

She was originally the reason why I became a Controller- she'd recognized me on our mission down at the Pool, and she'd brought me to the Yeerk authorities. I was still waiting for my private VIP cage to be built, which made me laugh- I guess even super advanced spaceship shipments got delayed- and I was in a cage next to Rachel's. I was relieved- she wasn't voluntary.

She spied me through the bars and instantly started crying.

"Noah, I'm so sorry," she told me.

I nodded. "It's cool. Look, I know you couldn't help it. You're a Controller."

She wiped her tears away. "I tried to fight against my Yeerk, but-"

"I said it's okay."

"Have you heard any news of your _Transformers_ friends?" Rachel asked. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that the nickname I'd come up with for our freakshow group all those months ago had stuck, and even the Yeerks were using it.

I shrugged. "Not since they managed to take Quinn."

Rachel smiled, an echo of her usual smile. "They got Quinn?"

I smiled, too. That was good news, for a change. "Yeah, they did. And the blue transforming box. I wouldn't be surprised if they made her a _Transformer_."

"That's great," she said weakly. "I'm really happy for-" her voice broke, and she bit her lip, trying to withhold her sob.

"Rachel," I said, shocked as she broke down into tears. I wasn't really sure what to do, so I reached through the bar to grab her hand. I mean, okay, she was mostly annoying as fuck but I wasn't a heartless asshole. The girl was obviously upset. I had no idea how long she'd been a slave for, and I was already feeling pretty down about being one myself. The least I could do was try and comfort her.

"Someday, they'll come for you, Noah," Rachel told me sadly through her tears.

I squeezed her hand. "You, too, Rachel- they'll come for _both_ of us."

Rachel looked at me, her eyes hopeful but guarded. Like she didn't believe me. She knew that most of our group didn't really care for her. But then she looked down at our joined hands.

I didn't let go until it was time for us to get re-enslaved.

* * *

_What happened to Quinn? Now your thoughts are consumed with that human girl Rachel!_

_ Dude, I'm a sex shark. I can't be tied down. _

Visser Seven sneered._ No wonder the girl doesn't want you. But honestly if I had to choose, I would've definitely stuck with Quinn. The Rachel girl is obnoxious- _

_ Yeah, but she's smoking hot. And she's Jewish._

_ So much for_ love.

_ I'm an opportunist, what can I say?_

_ And so am I. We are not as different as you like to think, human._

I was silent. Was he right?

* * *

"And you're _sure_ about this, Gisham Two-Seven-Seven?" I asked. Visser Seven was happy. Gleeful, even.

I was boiling inside.

The Yeerk had been one of Sugar's peeps- the host was a lady I'd spotted during our initial infiltration of it months ago, back when I was a _Transformer._

Well- I'm still a _Transformer._ But. You know what I mean, dude.

Anyways, she'd just shown up on our doorstep, ready to betray Sugar. I knew that the others were staying at the mansion. Visser Seven and I had figured that out from the get-go, but we hadn't exactly had the right opportunity to strike. But now, with Gisham 277's intel, Visser Seven had a way to completely shut down Sugar's forcefields. It was exactly what he'd been waiting for.

Now all I needed to do was go in and distract them.

I ordered the destruction of the mansion- the destruction of possibly my own family residing within.

And that's when I reached my breaking point.

My family- dead? My friends' families- dead? My friends? I was trying to kill them as we speak. Visser Seven had used me to acquire some horrifying shit- his shipments had finally arrived, including random beasts from all over the universe, so he could have his own private petting zoo.

I was a _Kaftid,_ some eight-legged freaky acid-spitting thing. And every time I struck, I was _so close_ to killing them- and I didn't even care. How could I care? If I cared, I would be hurt. I couldn't keep pretending that the Yeerks were going to lose, that my friends were going to make it through every battle. That was stupid. I'd done too many involuntary things. If I cared about my friends, then it would surely just end in my own personal suffering, because- they just didn't stand a chance against me.

And it was time I realized that.

We might actually lose, and I might be Visser Seven's hose forever.

_Not forever,_ he laughed._ Just until you_ die.

* * *

I was in my own personal VIP cage when it happened.

The cage was pretty nice. I had a couch, and a PS3, since Visser Seven was tired of hearing me complain about never being able to play it. He attempted to make my life better, considering I had stopped trying to fight him and just gave myself over to the fact that there was nothing I could do to stop him. It was just a waste of energy, and I was so _tired_.

But then there was an attack on the Pool.

I don't know why or how they figured out that it was one of my rare, short windows of freedom, but they did. And then, before I could blink, Santana and Quinn were stepping into my cage. I blinked at them. How did they get in? I looked over at the control panel and- of course. Brittany.

_[Time to go, Puck!]_ Santana said, her cheetah tail flicking in the air behind her. Quinn looked over her massive shoulder at the chaos behind her. People were screaming, I could hear a gorilla roaring- Dracon beams were beginning to fire. I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not. Wait- was I alone in my head, or? I'd dreamt of leaving so many times. Wait- leaving? I couldn't leave, not without-

"Dude, I can't. I'm the only reason why Rachel's still alive."

_[Who cares about Rachel_?] Santana demanded. I was a little offended, and slightly ashamed that I almost agreed with her. Which only made me angry at myself.

"_I_ do! I can't just leave her. She's a slave."

_[Hello? So are _you_, in case you haven't fucking noticed,]_ Santana snarled.

"But you guys are coming for me," I pointed out sadly. "No one's coming for her."

_[If we win this war, we are coming for _everyone_,]_ she argued. _[But we kind of need you to _not_ be our enemy in order for that to happen.]_

I set my jaw, cursing myself. "I'm not leaving. Not without Rachel."

_[Oh, for fuck's sake. We don't have time for this!]_

_[Noah, please,]_ Quinn pleaded.

_[Why is everyone choosing Rachel all of a fucking sudden?]_ Santana exploded abruptly, pacing in the cage for a moment. She stopped and glared at me_. [Is this really fucking happening right now?]_

I wanted to cry with frustration. Why didn't they get it? I wanted to leave so badly, more than anything, but- "I'm the only thing keeping her alive," I explained, a pleading tone to my voice. I just had to get them to understand, it wasn't just as simple as leaving-

Santana looked like she wanted to argue, but she knew I was right. I know she did. And yet- _[I don't care,]_ she muttered bitterly. She blinked, her eyes shiny, and I didn't even know cheetahs could cry. _[I'm tired of leaving you behind.]_

I swallowed bravely. "It'll be okay," I said. "I won't die."

_[You don't know that,]_ Santana snapped. She paused. _[But fine. You know, I wish I would've known you'd rather stay Visser Seven's slave with Rachel before we risked so much to get you out,]_ she sneered, turning away. I tried not to let her words affect me. I knew how she could be when she was hurt.

_[Santana,]_ Quinn scolded.

_[Let's go, Q.]_

Quinn hesitated, turning her icy blue eyes at me. _[Noah, we risked a lot. Are you sure you won't come with us?]_

I smiled sadly at her. "What kind of person would that make me?"

_[Guys! What's taking so long?]_ Sam demanded as he knuckle-walked up quickly. He had a perfect circle burned into his ribs- obviously from a Dracon beam- and his expression was fierce, angry. He was one King Kong I would not want to fuck with.

_[Puck doesn't want to come with us,]_ Santana complained bitterly.

_[What?] _Sam demanded, looking at me, and then Quinn, who was studying me.

I opened my mouth to say something, and then Quinn spoke.

_[Sam- grab him. We're taking him with us.] _

_[Got it.] _

"What?" I yelled. "No!"

But it was too late. Sam lifted his fist to my head, and before I could protest further, he brought his hand down and tapped me unconscious.

* * *

_You're a coward._

No, I'm not!

_You're selfish. _

How?

_You ran away. You chose freedom for yourself and left the others- left Rachel- behind, left them as slaves. _

Not by choice! I was _taken_-

_But you're glad you're free. You're glad they made that choice for you, so you didn't have to._

No-

_You think you're different from us, human. You think you're better. But if you were in my position, you would have done the same thing. If you had the chance to be free, to be in control for once, you would _take_ it- and you did._

I didn't! _They_ did- they took me, I would have stayed-

_Only because you would've felt bad for leaving. Not because you actually cared._

But isn't that why people do anything? My intentions were good.

_Selfish._

No.

_Coward._

No!

_Weak. You will lose this war. You will lose, and we will win. And _everyone_ you love will be slaves. _

I won't let that happen.

_You're powerless to stop it._

* * *

I opened my eyes with a start, noticing immediately that it was extremely bright. My vision was blurry for a second while my eyes struggled to focus, and then Quinn's concerned face came into view. She sat in front of me, cross-legged, staring. I blinked at her, wondering what the fuck she was doing acting like a creep. I swallowed. My mouth tasted bitter. I flexed my fingers beside me. It was weird just waking up and being in control of my own body.

"You've changed," Quinn stated, the inflection in her voice impossible to read.

I cleared my throat experimentally. Coughed. Swallowed. "How can you tell?" I asked, my voice sounding rough, even to me.

Quinn shook her head, her eyes growing far away, even though she hadn't taken her gaze from me. "I don't know," she said, her voice smaller. "I can just- feel it, somehow." She reached up and I flinched, half expecting her to hit me- involuntary reaction, I guess. I wasn't used to not being hit when I was in control of my own body. My reaction didn't go unnoticed by her as she tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

I looked at her, _really_ looked at her, and tried to see the girl that I used to care about, tried to reach inside myself to find those feelings again. This is Quinn- _Quinn_, the Head Cheerleader. The hottest girl in school. The girl I used to daydream about being with in class. The girl I took out on a date the night of the fateful construction site visit. We'd never discussed our feelings with each other, we'd always been casual, but I'd definitely _had_ feelings.

Somewhere.

But all I could feel, right then, in that moment, was resentment.

How could she be so selfish? Didn't she care about my wishes?

"I get it, Noah," Quinn admitted sadly, breaking in to my bitter thoughts. "We shouldn't have taken you."

"_We_?" I retorted.

"_I_ shouldn't have taken you," Quinn corrected. "But it's too late now. We can't just give you back."

"Yeah, and Rachel might be dead, anyways," I said harshly, watching her flinch. It made me relieved inside- because blaming Quinn for taking me let me avoid facing the fact that I wasn't as noble as I pretended to be- that I wanted to be free so badly, and that I might have left Rachel behind myself. Blaming Quinn kept me from blaming myself for wanting to be rescued, and for not caring as much as I pretended I did about Rachel being a slave. Sure, I didn't want her to die- but she didn't know how awful it was being Visser Seven.

I didn't want to think about what kind of person that made me.

But Quinn didn't need to know that.

"She won't be dead. As long as-"

"As long as _what?_" I demanded angrily, still on a roll. "Do you know how many times I had to talk that crazy slug out of killing her? With new morons pouring in every day to be hosts, Rachel is expendable. She knows us, sure, but none of us have a strong connection to her-"

"You do," Quinn said with slight sarcasm. I glared at her- was she jealous of _Rachel_?

I shook my head, wondering who Quinn was, wondering where that girl I used to know went. If I'd changed, so had she. "That's right," I snapped. "But now I'm gone."

Quinn sighed irritably. "Look, I'm sorry, all right? I get that you're upset, but-"

"But what?!" I felt myself growing even angrier. How could she sit there and think that completely disregarding my wishes over some petty bullshit wasn't a big deal?

"But you don't know how hard it's been for all of us since you've been gone!" She yelled suddenly, stopping my anger instantly. Tears spilled from her eyes and she kept talking. "Do you know how awful it is, wondering if _you're_ going to show up? Worried that we might have to kill you?"

Oh. That makes sense. But _fuck_- "You don't think I was dealing with the same thing? I was _ordering_ your deaths! It was harder for _me_!"

"Come on, Puck- you know us better than that," Santana said darkly from a few yards away. I turned and looked over to see her leaning casually against another tree, and wondered how long she'd been standing there watching Quinn and I bicker. "There's no way _you_ would've killed _us_. We're survivors- Quinn came closer to killing us than you did."

Quinn smiled slightly, though a little sad, at the memory Santana was referring to, and I just looked blankly at them. Was that supposed to be funny?

Santana shook her head. "You really _have_ changed," she whispered. It was silent for a moment while she studied my face. "We should've never let you stay a host for as long as you were."

"There was nothing you could've done," I told her softly.

"We didn't even _try_, Puck-"

"You had other shit to worry about."

"But you were one of us!"

"I still AM," I said firmly. I was, wasn't I? I didn't switch sides or anything-

Santana shook her head again, averting her eyes. "No. Somewhere along the way, we lost you." She looked up, her eyes sad as they caught mine. "I just hope we can find you again."

I felt a shiver run down my spine. Had I really changed that much? Without me even noticing?

And was there any way to come back? Would I ever be me again?

I had witnessed, and done by extension, so many awful things. I'd been a slave. I'd tortured people I'd known in school. I'd ordered the deaths of dozens of people, ordered the deaths of my friends, my family.

Was I a casualty, like Santana said?

Was I lost?

I took a deep breath. Swallowed. That bitter feeling returned.

Was I selfish? Was I a coward?

Had I always been those things? Had Visser Seven rubbed off on me? Had he changed me beyond repair?

I didn't know the answers to any of those questions. I didn't even know I had changed.

But whoever I was, it wasn't who I used to be, and I wasn't sure if I was better now or worse. I guess it all depends on how I differed from who I used to be.

If Santana was right, and I was a casualty, I didn't like the thought of what my legacy would be.

History books always leave out the good intentions of people when they're written.

* * *

**Yay! Puck's back! Kind of… does anyone want to see Rachel get rescued? LOL not that she's going to be. I just. You know. Wondered. **

**Next chapter should be much longer and also fun and insane- we're going on a water mission! Woo-hoo! I finally figured out a plot for it, so look forward to that later in the week. Hopefully before Wednesday, but definitely before next Monday. **

**And leave a review if you thought this chapter was garbage. :D **

**See you soon, pals! **


	31. Trapped

**HAH. SUNDAY. I told you I'd be back before Monday! Actually I would've had this chapter earlier but my computer ATES part of it. Silly thing! **

**Hiiiii! :D**

**You guys slay me- everyone was so worried I wasn't going to cover Santana's aftermath! Come on, guys- I GOT CHU. :B**

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, worried (needlessly), suggested, flailed, petted, and loved the last chapter. I love you guys so much. SO MUCH.**

**And now, the chapter you've all been waiting for! (I guess...)**

* * *

"Brittany, _oh_- oh, _God_-"

I tried to catch my breath, but- _shit_. My hand tightened in her blonde hair. All I could feel was Brittany's tongue, flicking and then swirling and then-

Stopping.

I almost screamed in frustration as her head lifted slightly from between my legs. "Are you praying?" she asked curiously.

"Don't stop!" I yelped, then nearlycried with relief when her tongue returned to stroking me. Fuck, _fuck_, I was so close, so fucking close, and-

"I'm having difficulty breathing, Santana."

Oh, my God, _why_-

"Brittany, _please_."

She licked strongly a few more times, swirled her tongue, and then I was done for. I arched off the bed into practically a sitting position, clutching Brittany's head and shuddering violently. Oh, my- fuuuuck…

I collapsed on my back, panting, and Brittany kissed up my stomach.

"You're my favorite flavor," she told me seriously, licking her lips, and I shivered at her sexy tone. She kissed under my chin and I slid my arms around her, pulling her close to me, feeling her warm, naked skin press to mine. I loved her weight atop me, loved her smoothness. I wrapped my legs around hers and she shifted to kiss my cheek. I struggled to find my voice, but I was still basking in the aftershocks of my incredible orgasm.

"Are you unable to speak?" Brittany asked me after a moment, and the concern in her voice made me smile slightly through my heavy breaths.

"No, Britt," I said, trying to collect my scattered thoughts. "No one's _ever_- not like- _God_." I couldn't even think straight. All I could do was feel the thrumming afterglow in my body. Brittany kissed my cheek again and I turned to nudge my nose against hers. "You're amazing," I managed after a moment.

She beamed at me.

"I don't know _how_," I continued. "But whatever you did- wow. Just- wow."

"It was simple, San," Brittany said in between pressing more soft kisses to my cheek. "I simply exploited the sensitive parts of you and experimented with different pressures and-"

"You don't have to explain it," I giggled against her lips before I kissed them. She kissed me back, and I could feel her smile against my lips. I stroked my palms up and down her back, and when she finally pulled away for air, she nuzzled her face into my neck.

"You're so beautiful," she said, and I squeezed her in response.

"Well, _you're_ beautiful and you make me so happy," I returned playfully, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

Brittany propped herself up on her elbow, still lying on top of me, and looked at me, a serious expression on her face. I knew what she was going to say, so I reached up to press my fingers to her lips.

"Don't," I said softly. "I know."

It had been a weird adjustment after I'd decided to be my own personal version of Mary Kate and Ashley, but now that I was back to- well, not _normal_, but as normal as I could get- I really didn't want to talk about the split- or Snix. Brittany had been telling me at every opportunity how glad she was that I still had all of the qualities in me- that I hadn't excluded the bad ones- but I didn't want to think about those dark things still present inside me. I'd been trying extremely hard to suppress them. I'd been nicer to everyone, and especially to Brittany. She pretty much had me even more whipped than usual. I gave her whatever she wanted. Which, after I'd gone down on her when I was split, she'd wanted to try it on me herself and now it was like, her new favorite thing I guess.

Not that I was complaining, of course.

"I love you," I told her, stroking fingers through her silky blonde hair. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I love you, too."

* * *

I blink, trying to adjust to my surroundings. It's dark, and I can't see anything. I look around, trying to figure out what's going on, trying to figure out where the fuck I am. I look for anything, anyone I recognize, but there's nothing, no one. I'm completely alone.

Alone? I can't be alone! I search around for Brittany, but it's impossible in the dark. She could be right beside me and I wouldn't see her. I call out her name, but there's no answer. My voice is swallowed up by the darkness. I start walking quickly in a direction, fear beginning to consume me. I shiver- it's cold, and I'm scared. I'm alone. I can't-

I call out for Brittany again, my voice becoming more desperate, my steps becoming more frantic. And then I'm running, screaming. Panic is taking over. Where am I? Where's Brittany? Where is she? I can't-

And then I see the _Vermithrax_.

It's sitting there patiently, its sinister eyes regarding me with interest. Watching me.

_Waiting_ for me.

And if I was scared before, I'm even more scared now.

Its haunting, empty eyes meet mine, and I feel naked, exposed- like the creature can see _through_ me, can see inside me. Its eyes beckon me, and I take an involuntary step forward, almost as if I'm connected to it by an invisible thread. I try to resist. _No_-

Suddenly, the _Vermithrax_ begins to change. Its features twist. It shrinks and contorts, and it's not the ominous eyes of the _Vermithrax_ looking at me anymore-

It's my own.

And now I'm _really_ terrified.

The other me smirks at me wickedly, brown eyes narrowed into a menacing glare. She steps forward, and I cower back. She reaches up, traces tan fingers down my jaw while I tremble in fear.

And then she snaps my neck.

I collapse to the ground in agonizing pain- _so much pain_, and it feels like I'm being electrocuted, like I'm being _ripped apart_, and I stare up at my other self in horror. She's laughing maniacally, laughing at _me_, and then her features shift. Her open mouth changes through her laughter, and then Sebastian's laughing at me.

He grins at me in devious delight, and then moves aside to show me-

Brittany. She's lying on the ground at an unnatural angle, her blue eyes open, but dull, lifeless. Dead.

I'm screaming, but no sound comes out. Sebastian's laughing, and it echoes in my ears until it's the only sound resonating in my brain. And then Sam comes into view. He's on the ground, too. Also lifeless, also dead. Behind him, Quinn, Mercedes, Kurt, Blaine, Arty… all lifeless, all dead.

All with snapped necks.

I scream and scream in horror. I'm sobbing. The pain of my neck is gone and I just feel numb. I feel _nothing_. This can't be happening. This can't be real!

"You'll destroy everyone you love," Sebastian tells me, and a chill runs down my spine because he's right, isn't he? He's _right_-

"No," I croak through my tears. He can't be right, he just can't. I wouldn't do that, would I?

_Would I?_

"You can't help it. Not as long as _she's_ a part of you."

"_No_."

"You'll always hurt the ones you love."

* * *

I awoke with a start, my eyes snapping open to stare at the darkened ceiling. My breath was coming in rapid, shallow gasps. My skin felt clammy. The sheets felt damp. Cold. I shivered and took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. I listened carefully for any sound, but it was silent. I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that I hadn't roused Brittany from sleep. _This_ time.

Nightmares were nothing new to me, but they weren't usually so chilling- not until the split, that is. I'd been dreaming of the _Vermithrax_ ever since I'd acquired it, but I hadn't told anyone. It always did the same thing, and I wondered if the creature had some kind of supernatural powers that allowed it to torment me in my dreams. I wondered if Puck dreamt of it, too, or if it was just attracted to me because of Snix.

It always seemed to be waiting for me. That's what scared me the most. Like it knew- it _knew_ that I would destroy everyone I loved, just like Sebastian said. And Sebastian- why the hell was I still dreaming of him? What did he have to do with any of this? I shook my head and turned to my side, curling into a ball. I hated the way I felt after my _Vermithrax_ dreams. The creature was a part of me now. I had acquired its DNA. Maybe _more_ than its DNA. When we acquired animals, we got their instincts, too, didn't we? Who's to say the _Vermithrax_ didn't have some creepy ability to communicate with me through my dreams?

I shivered again, and tried to swallow. My mouth felt dry. I needed some water. I quietly slid out of bed, careful not to wake Brittany, and silently moved out into the hall. It was late, and everyone else was obviously asleep as I made my way to the kitchen. I used to be comforted by the darkness and solitude, but now it unsettled me. I just wanted to get back to my room- back to Brittany- and crawl into my bed.

I entered the kitchen and nearly jumped in surprise as I noticed a figure sitting at the table.

It was Sam.

He was staring blankly ahead, clutching a glass of water in his left hand. Obviously lost in thought. I took a hesitant step towards him. "Can't sleep?" I offered gently. I cleared my throat a little. My voice sounded hoarse.

It was silent for a moment, and I wondered if he'd heard me. Then, he shook his head slowly, as if coming out of some kind of trance, and he looked at me over his shoulder, out of the corner of his eye.

"No."

I stood there in awkward silence, feeling like I was intruding on Sam's personal time. Maybe he wanted to be alone? But he'd answered me, right? And I knew Sam- or at least, I thought I did. Maybe he just needed someone to pry it out of him. And I wasn't exactly the best at talking about feelings, but I was trying to be nicer, I was _trying_ to- I took a step closer. "Okay," I said slowly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sam hesitated; then he turned to look at me fully. He narrowed his eyes, like he was trying to figure me out, trying to decide if he trusted me enough to talk to me about his problems, trying to decide _which_ Santana I was- and I felt my stomach clench in fear and disappointment and regret. Would my friends always look at me like that? Like they didn't know which side of me they were going to get? I bit my lip in shame, and Sam must've finally decided that he knew who I was, because he sighed and gestured for me to sit down. I grabbed a glass of water and joined him at the table, waiting patiently for him to speak.

Sam took a deep breath. "Puck told me- about my family," he admitted quietly.

I froze. "Yeah?" I tried to swallow, but my throat felt tight. Sam had been agonizing for weeks- for _months_- over the fate of his family. And now he had some kind of news, some kind of confirmation. I'd been worried, too- we all had. I wasn't sure I wanted to know their fate. But I had to be strong for Sam, right?

"Yeah," Sam whispered hoarsely, his eyes shiny as he blinked back tears. I waited silently for Sam to be ready to talk- if he even _would_ be ready to talk- while my stomach twisted with anxiety.

Finally, Sam took another deep breath. When he spoke, his voice was devoid of emotion. "My dad was infested already- obviously. We found that out. But my mom- well, she was made a Controller immediately, and then the two of them were assigned to non-violent stuff." I let out a sigh of relief- that meant we wouldn't be running into them on the battlefield any time soon. "Mom's been helping out with New Directions, and Dad, because of his job, has been able to get any new construction projects the Yeerks want pushed through the permit department without any trouble."

Well, that explained the new Community Center- _and_ the aquarium. It also explained why Sam's dad was targeted to begin with. And all of it just reaffirmed how smart the Yeerks actually were. They were so good at this, and we were just amateur kids. What chance did we have to bring down an entire empire of aliens that had enslaved hundreds of races? Not even the Andalites had managed that yet. It was more than a little daunting and kind of a huge downer.

A thought occurred to me. Sam's parents weren't the only ones who were taken from his family. "What about…?" I started, not wanting to say their names, but I wanted to know. Well, maybe I really didn't, but now that we'd started talking about it-

Sam shook his head sadly. "Stevie and Stacy aren't Controllers." I let out a small sigh of relief, but- "They're kept in cages twenty-four seven."

I turned to look at Sam, positive that my face was displaying what I currently felt- horror. But Sam shrugged helplessly. "Well, what did I expect? Our parents are hosts. They've seen us transform, so they can't be out in normal society. It's too risky. But they're too young to be hosts themselves. So they're just- locked up."

I bit my lip, trying to figure out what to say, but Sam kept talking, saving me from having to form a response, because- what could I even say, anyways?

"I mean, at least they're not Controllers," he said softly, more to himself, staring down at the table. "For now. Once they get older, if we lose…" he trailed off. Then, he lifted his head, as if a thought just occurred to him. "Even if we win- I wonder what they will grow up to be like. They've had their family ripped away from them. They spend their lives in cages. There's got to be some psychological long-term effects on them-"

"_Sam_," I said, half horrified, half sympathetic. He didn't need to be thinking about that.

Sam looked at me silently, and offered me a wan, weak smile. We stared at each other for a long time.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly, and I felt my stomach clench uncomfortably again. I knew what he was referring to.

I shook my head slowly, averting my eyes. "I don't know if I can," I admitted in a hoarse whisper.

It was silent again. My thoughts raced. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but I didn't even know how to formulate any of it into words.

"I'm sorry," I blurted. "For-"

"You couldn't help it," he said quietly, cutting me off. "You weren't you."

My mouth went dry, my stomach dropped. If only his words were true. "I _was_, though, Sam. Both of them- they _are_ me, aren't they?"

"But the two of them, _together_, make up you. They balance each other out. One of them isn't more you than the other." I looked up at him again. I wanted to believe him _so badly_, but- "It's like the color orange," he continued suddenly, and I listened, waiting to see where he was going with his thoughts. "It's got red in it. And it's got yellow in it. But it's _not_ red, and it's not yellow. It's orange. And you can't make orange without red or yellow, but that doesn't mean that it IS those colors, you know? It's different."

I laughed slightly and squeezed his hand. "Thanks for the analogy, oh, wise Samuel, but red and yellow are still inside orange."

Sam nodded, thoughtful. "I guess so." He paused. "Do you really feel that way about my leadership?" he asked quietly, and I swallowed hard. Did I? I hadn't really thought about it.

I shrugged in response. "Sometimes I think you're an idiot," I answered carefully. "But I don't envy you, either. It's not easy keeping this group together. We're all so different, with different agendas and reasons for being here. You have a lot of pressure to not only make successful plans, but then to get us out of tight spots when those plans ultimately fail; to not get us killed in the process." I nudged his shoulder with mine as I repeated, "I really _don't_ envy you, Sammy. You're doing a good job."

"No one's dead yet," Sam pointed out lightly.

"No one's dead yet," I agreed with a nod, smiling at him. He returned it, a semblance of warmth returning to his expression. "And hey," I continued, "we got Puck back. And Quinn. We may not be winning, but we aren't losing. And now that we have Puck…"

Sam shook his head slowly. "He's changed so much."

"We all have, Sam," I said softly. "I don't-" I paused to swallow, my throat feeling tight again. "I don't feel the same."

Sam gave me a sympathetic, knowing look. "Me either. Do you think- do you think we can ever be how we were? Before all this?"

_No_.

"I don't know," I said hesitantly. It was silent again, and I turned my gaze towards the toaster, staring at the shiny silver, letting my thoughts drift. We would never be the same, not really. We'd been through too much. _I'd_ been through too much.

And Sam- he'd been a Controller. He makes life-or-death decisions every day. He worries about his family, about all of us. He would never be that simple, dopey, carefree boy he used to be. That boy was gone.

And me?

I'd discovered things about myself I'd never wanted to know. And they weren't things I could just erase.

No matter how badly I wanted to.

My chilling dream suddenly came back to me, and I felt dread falling over me again. I needed to get back to Brittany. I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm going back to bed," I said softly, squeezing Sam's hand one last time before standing. I placed my hand on his shoulder, reached to stroke his bangs from his head- an affectionate gesture I did when we dated that I now used as an expression of fond platonic friendship. "Don't torment yourself, okay?"

"I'm not," Sam said bitterly. "The Yeerks are doing a good enough job of that already."

"Don't let them," I said firmly. "You have me, you have _all_ of us- You have Mercedes."

Sam smiled a small, genuine smile at my statement. "Yeah." He looked up at me. "Night, Santana."

"Night, Sam."

I walked back to my room quickly, slightly troubled at my conversation with Sam. But I also felt a little relieved. Sam had made me feel just a tad bit better, in true Sam fashion. He always had. And I only hoped that I managed to make him feel a little better, too.

I stepped inside my room and was immediately wrapped up in Brittany's arms from behind. Surprised, I leaned back in to her touch and she held me impossibly closer, pressing her warm lips to my neck, making me shiver at the feel of her hot breath blowing across my skin.

"I missed you," she murmured into my skin, and I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I thought you were sleeping," I breathed.

She shook her head slightly, tightening her arms around me. "I can sense when you're gone," she whispered before kissing my neck again.

I swallowed, then reached up behind me to tangle my fingers in her hair. "I'm sorry."

I felt her lips turn up into a smile against my neck, and she chuckled, low in her throat. The vibrations against my skin made me shiver. "I'm just glad you're back."

I turned my head to see her eyes, which I could just barely make out in the darkness. Was she, really? She leaned her forehead against mine and, despite the awkward position, I twisted to kiss her. It didn't matter, did it? She said she was glad. I needed all the comfort I could get. Brittany eagerly returned my kiss, opening her mouth to deepen it immediately, and I moaned softly against her, tightening my hold on her hair and pulling her even closer to me.

I gasped as her hands slid across my stomach, pressing my hips back into hers. She groaned in my mouth and pushed her right hand down, down under my sleep shorts-

"Britt," I panted, arching my back as her fingers slid against me. I rolled my hips back into hers harder, and she pushed her hips forward, grinding against my ass.

"I love you," she told me breathlessly, and I pulled her into another hot kiss as she entered me with two fingers. I felt my legs buckling. I kissed her harder.

She plunged into me over and over, and I closed my eyes and lost myself to the feeling, to her warm presence, to her smell- all of which were washing away the aftereffects of my terrifying dream. The physical expression of Brittany's love for me always managed to reassure me, to erase my doubts and insecurities, and since my split, I'd needed the reassurance a lot more. Brittany always seemed to know that.

When I fell apart, she tightened her arms, keeping me standing, and then guided me over to the bed, lying me down on my back and climbing on top of me. She hovered over me on all fours, reaching up to brush my hair from my face. She traced her fingers down my cheek and then cupped my jaw lovingly in her hand, tilting my face up so she could press a soft kiss to my lips.

"I love you," she told me again, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

I wanted to believe her _so badly_.

* * *

I was sitting on the couch, practically in Brittany's lap, when Sugar came in. Brittany was stroking my legs soothingly, and all of the others were gathered around in various chairs- even Puck- but I didn't care. I felt like a magnet, like I couldn't be too far away from Brittany. She was the one thing that _all_ of me had agreed was the most important thing in my life. She grounded me, she was my literal lifeline. Her presence had always calmed and reassured me, and I didn't want to be too far away from that.

Brittany made me feel safe and protected- something I needed, because I still couldn't deal with everyone's eyes on me. I could almost feel their gazes penetrating into my skin, accusing, curious, _pitying_- that was the worst. I avoided looking at everyone, too nervous about what they might be thinking about me.

I caught Kurt staring at me from across the room and offered him a glare in return. He'd been so quick to write me off when I was cut in half. That stung. I couldn't believe he was still angry at me over Finn- it was ridiculous. That was _months_ ago. There had to be something he wasn't telling me, but I wasn't ready to confront him about it. He was the only one who'd seen what I was truly capable of: I'd snapped Celeste's neck. For _nothing_. So I couldn't look Kurt in the eye. I was too ashamed of what he knew about me.

Who had he told?

I cringed. Blaine probably knew. I was grateful he wasn't present for this meeting. He and Arty still had school and lives to maintain, but-

Arty. I'd been awful to him. And I couldn't even think about how awful I'd been to Rory. But, honestly, I'd been awful to everyone, hadn't I? All of them had been affected by my split in one way or another. I'd tried to hit on Quinn (ugh, what was I thinking?) I'd been unnecessarily mean to Mercedes (to _Mercedes_.) And I'd threatened to kill pretty much everyone except Brittany.

I buried my face in Brittany's shoulder, feeling another wave of guilt and shame wash over me. I could sense the awkward tension in the room between all of us, but then Sugar broke it with her cheerful greeting.

"Hell-ooo, beautiful people."

Sugar had made some snarky,_ glad to see you're back to your pleasant self_ comment once I'd been returned to _normal_, but at Brittany's responding scowl, she'd seemed taken aback. That's when I'd figured out that she had meant it genuinely as a compliment, and I'd tried to be a lot nicer to her. So this time, when she came in, I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

Brittany kissed the side of my neck reassuringly, and I lifted my head from her shoulder. I could be brave- for her.

"Okay, so now that we have Puck back," Sam started, gaining all of our attention, "we need to figure out what to do next. We've gotta strike against the Yeerks."

"Excuse me," Sugar interrupted, raising her hand. "But why exactly am I here?"

Sam blinked at her. "Well, I thought you might like to know what our next plan was and be involved? And that maybe you had some information for us or something."

"No, not really," Sugar said with a shrug, petting her sugar glider that was always with her.

"Uh- okay," Sam said slowly. "Then I guess you can go?"

Sugar stood up. "Great, because I have things to do. Ta ta." She waved as she strolled away, and I just watched her go with a shocked look on my face.

"Rude," Kurt muttered.

"For real," Mercedes agreed.

Sam shrugged helplessly. "Maybe she's still working on that 'big news' she mentioned last time?"

"But why wouldn't she want to be involved now?" Mercedes asked.

"I don't know, but she did help us save Puck. So cut her some slack, all right?" Sam pleaded.

Kurt crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

Mercedes huffed. "Well, what were you saying, Sam?"

Sam smiled. "Right. Uh. We need to figure out what we're gonna do next." He looked at Puck. "Do you have any information? Any ideas on places we could strike that would do damage to the Yeerks?"

Puck shrugged. "Taking down the Kandrona was a big deal. Visser Seven was pissed about that."

"We can't take down another Kandrona," Kurt said.

"Praise," Mercedes agreed.

"No- you wouldn't be able to, anyways," Puck said. "But what I'm getting at, is that you destroyed their food source. So now, you destroy their other food source."

"What?" Kurt asked. "I just said we can't take down another Kandrona."

"I get it," Quinn said with a nod.

"Get what?" Mercedes asked.

"Hosts need to eat, too," Quinn said.

"We can't shut down the supermarket," Sam said, giving Quinn a confused look.

"No," Puck said impatiently. "The Hork-Bajir, the Taxxons, the humans- all of the hosts on the Mother Ship. They're not shopping at Stop and Shop."

"Right," Quinn agreed. "There's got to be some kind of supply ship. Something to ferry water and food up to the Mother Ship."

Puck nodded. "Bingo. There's a Truck Ship that transports water from the lake up to the Pool Ship. Destroy that and it'll definitely hurt the Yeerks. It'll take them a while to build a new supply ship."

"Then that's where we strike. We go up to the lake, we somehow get on the ship, and we blow it up," Sam said, punching his fist into his other hand dramatically.

I nodded, listening to his plan.

"Sounds good to me," Mercedes said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's a start," Kurt agreed.

"Santana?" Sam asked.

I looked at him. "Hmm?"

"You haven't said anything snarky," Kurt pointed out.

I avoided looking at him and instead just shrugged. "I agree with Sam, is all."

Kurt looked scandalized, and it angered me. I agreed with Sam sometimes, didn't I?

…okay, well, he didn't have to point it out so impolitely.

"Not to be rude," Puck started, "but I don't think that should be our next mission."

"Okay," Sam said slowly. "What do you suggest?"

"We need to save Rachel."

"What?" Kurt asked, looking, if possible, even more scandalized.

"Tell me you're joking," Mercedes muttered, and I felt slight anger at his statement, too. We'd been over this so many times.

"What _exactly_ are we supposed to do with Rachel once we save her?" I asked Puck icily.

"_There's_ the Santana I know," Kurt mumbled and I shot him a glare, miffed at his audacity.

Puck shrugged, his expression challenging. "We make her one of us."

Kurt burst out laughing, like he couldn't hold it in anymore, and Puck exploded on him.

"What the fuck is so funny, dude?"

"I'm sorry," Kurt giggled. "But I can't imagine Rachel tearing out the throat of a Hork-Bajir." He paused to look at Sam, who was considering Kurt's case. He had a point. "That's dangerous-"

"Give Rachel some more credit," Quinn said quietly. "She's tougher than we think and she's been through a lot. Being a Controller is a good motivator."

Mercedes shook her head, as if she couldn't wrap her brain around it. "But still, it's _Rachel_. _Vegan_ Rachel…"

"Do you think the Yeerks let Rachel stay a vegan?" Sam wondered out loud.

Silence. We all processed Sam's words.

"Where do you come up with this crap?" Kurt demanded.

Sam shrugged. "It was just a thought."

"Seriously," Puck said, drawing our attention back to the argument at hand. "We can't just leave her."

"I agree," Quinn said firmly with a nod. Puck offered her the faintest smile.

Kurt lifted his hand, as if to halt them. "But it still doesn't answer the question of what we do with her."

"We don't have to make her a _Transformer_," Brittany pointed out quietly.

"Right. There's plenty of room here," Mercedes agreed. "She could just hang out with our parents all day." She shrugged, lifting her hand in a _who knows_ gesture.

"Charming," I said flatly.

"Well, we don't have to decide anything _right now_," Sam said. "I think we need to do some kind of damage to the Yeerks first. I think striking the supply ship is the way to go. Once the Yeerks are focused on that, it'll be easier to mount another mission to save Rachel, or whatever it is we decide to do."

I nodded. "Sam's right. The Yeerks will be weaker after we cut off their water supply."

Sam smiled at me, obviously glad that I supported his decision. I smiled back. It was a start.

Puck sighed, but he knew we were right. "I'll agree to this, but I'm not done. I won't rest until Rachel is free."

Kurt raised an extremely judgmental eyebrow, then turned to the rest of us. "So what's the first step?"

"We acquire water animals," Quinn answered, as if that part was obvious. I guess it was.

Sam nodded. "I vote-"

"Sharks!" Puck said enthusiastically.

I looked at Puck skeptically. "Uh, hello? We have to _touch_ the animal to acquire it? And I'm not really interested in becoming shark bait."

"Oo ha ha!" Kurt said automatically.

We all looked at him.

"Sorry," he admitted sheepishly. "Blaine and I just watched _Finding Nemo_."

Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Not sharks," Sam said. "But close. I think dolphin is the way to go."

Brittany looked confused. "But dolphins are just gay sharks."

We were all quiet for a moment while we thought about Brittany's statement. Sam blinked at her, Quinn smiled behind her hand, Kurt openly laughed, and I squeezed Brittany's hand, grinning like an idiot. She was so clever.

Mercedes chuckled. "Well, regardless, where are we gonna get a _gay shark_ to acquire? We shut down that aquarium."

"Praise!" Kurt joked.

"I think the zoo has a water exhibit, don't they?" Quinn pointed out.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure they have one."

"Awesome," Sam said with a grin, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "So we'll hit up the zoo later tonight and acquire ourselves a dolphin."

"A gay shark," Kurt corrected.

We all giggled.

* * *

I was sitting under my usual tree, huddled in my hoodie for warmth, watching Brittany run out in the meadow. It was twilight, so it was relatively safe for her to be out in the open. She needed to eat and stretch her legs before the mission. We were going to acquire our _gay sharks_ once it got dark, and then we were heading out first thing in the morning, since Puck had confirmed the Yeerk tank ship showed up at the lake just before noon, and we had to travel all the way up across the state to get there.

I chewed my lip nervously. I was nervous about this mission. Getting Puck back had been relatively easy- we knew the layout of the Yeerk pool, and it was a _Smash and Dash_ type of thing. But now, we had to infiltrate a Yeerk ship that we knew practically nothing about, and then figure out a way to blow it up from within. So many things could go wrong. And let's be honest, sneaky-snake missions weren't exactly my strong point. Was that because of Snix? Or was that _all_ of me? Could I control myself enough for us to do an undercover mission without getting us detected? I doubted myself constantly.

I tried to focus on Brittany's stunning form in the distance, but I couldn't escape my troubling thoughts. Was I going to fuck up? Was I going to get everyone killed? Could I do the mission without going crazy? Was I that out of control? I hadn't thought I was, but Snix was a part of me, wasn't she? And she was out of control, if anything.

Fuck, was I ever going to be a useful part of the team again?

"So I heard you got cut in half."

I froze at the sound of Puck's voice. How had I not heard him approaching? I must've really been lost in thought. The sound of dead leaves crunching signified that he was coming closer, and I was silent as he stopped beside me.

"Two Santanas?" he asked, and I could hear his trademark smirk in his voice. It was the first time I'd heard the old Puck since he'd been saved, and despite the uncomfortable subject, I couldn't help but smile slightly.

"It's not as awesome as you think," I muttered, and Puck took my response as an invitation to sit down beside me in the mostly dead grass. I turned my attention back to Brittany, who was just a small lavender blur against the backdrop of the brown, dead environment in the distance.

"Still- I wish I could've seen that," Puck went on.

"_No_, you _don't_," I argued, feeling myself growing angry, even though I knew it was just Puck being Puck. But he didn't understand how _awful_ it was, how much it had affected me, how ashamed I _still_ was over it-

"Are you kidding?" he laughed, and I turned to offer him a glare. "It's like every man's dream come true! My chances of getting laid would have _doubled_-"

"Trust me- they _wouldn't_ have."

"And can you imagine a threesome?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'd rather not vomit."

Puck laughed, and then he turned serious. We stared at each other for a long moment, and then his expression softened. "Are you okay?"

I frowned. "Puck- you just got your own brain back after being a slave for months, and you're asking _me_ if _I'm_ okay?"

"Yeah," Puck said with a shrug, "I am."

I looked into his eyes. They were different- troubled. Harder. Older, maybe. And just like with Sam, I noticed how much Puck had changed. His changes were obvious to me, and I wondered if my changes were as obvious to him and everyone else. Because I know I had definitely changed. And I was humiliated to admit it hadn't been in the best way.

"I'll be okay, I think. It's just-" I paused to swallow, feeling a flood of emotion overwhelm me suddenly. Would I ever be okay with talking about it? I took a deep breath. "It's been rough."

Puck nodded understandingly. "You're not alone, you know. Three of us have been Controllers now, Santana. We know what it's like to have our private selves exposed."

"Yeah, but your private selves aren't psychotic bitches," I muttered, shaking my head bitterly.

"Maybe not, but you know what?" Puck started, and the tone of his voice made me listen attentively as he continued, "Having that part of me uncovered, feeling so ashamed of it- it made me realize something. It made me realize that- that part of me? _Sucks_. And I don't like feeling ashamed." He looked at me, and his eyes were intense. "We have the power to _change_- not just our bodies, but who we are. We've always had that power. You're not _trapped_, Santana."

I nodded thoughtfully, thinking about Puck's words. He was right- I could change who I was. I didn't want to be a psychotic bitch. I didn't want the others to look at me with caution, to treat me like a ticking time bomb, like they didn't know when I was going to explode. I didn't want to look at myself and be embarrassed. I would change.

Because if you look in the mirror and don't like what you see, you should change it.

"When did you get so smart?" I asked softly.

Puck offered me a grim smile. "I've been through a lot."

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "We all have."

He laid his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. "I'm just so scared," he admitted in a trembling whisper.

I nodded, feeling tears springing to my eyes. I knew what he was scared of- of the future, if we lost. Of our own selves. Of not being able to change our fates, or who we were. Of our old selves being lost forever.

I knew, because I was scared, too.

* * *

I was adjusting the hood of my leather jacket over my head when Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.

"Hey Santana, can I talk to you for a second?"

I took a deep breath. Shit. "Look- I stopped putting weird stuff in Mercedes' food at least a week ago, so it wasn't me, all right?"

Sam stared at me. "What?"

I blinked. "What?"

Sam shook his head. "Okay, not gonna ask."

"Probably a good idea." I shoved my hands in my pockets. "So?"

"I'm trying this new thing where I ask your opinions on decisions, since you have good input," Sam said with a casual shrug, avoiding my eyes. "I thought- it might help me become a better leader." He looked up and offered me a Sam smile, and I returned it.

"You want _my_ opinion?" I clarified, just to be sure I heard right.

He nodded, his cheeks turning the slightest bit pink. "Yeah. I was thinking, I mean- we just got Puck back. And, I don't know, he seems different. I don't want to put too much pressure on him, you know?"

"You think he should sit this one out," I stated.

"Well- yeah."

"I think it's a good idea," I agreed, nodding.

Sam looked surprised. "You do?"

I shrugged. "Sure. We don't know what kind of effect being Visser Seven had on Puck. The last thing we need is for him to have a meltdown or something in the middle of the mission."

"It's not that I think he _will_," Sam said quickly. "It's just-"

"We don't _know_," I finished.

"Right."

I shrugged again. "It makes sense."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. I just didn't want to think I was being too harsh. And I don't want Puck to get upset."

"So make someone stay home with him. We don't really need everyone on this mission. It's a reconnaissance, anyway. The less, the better, right? Low profile?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Sam agreed with a nod. "But who should I make stay home? Quinn?"

I cringed slightly. "Yes, but- they aren't exactly on the best of terms. Have Arty stay, too."

Sam grinned. "You can't spell _party_ without Arty."

I rolled my eyes. "Wish I'd been invited. Instead I get to go turn into a dolphin."

"Gay shark," Sam corrected.

I rolled my eyes again and shoved him. "Let's go do this."

* * *

Puck took it well. Arty didn't, but he understood that we needed him to be a friend to Puck. He seemed like the kind of guy that Puck could talk to, if he wanted. Because let's face it, Kurt and Blaine probably wouldn't have much in common with him.

Quinn wasn't too upset about not going on the mission. She was thankful for the private time to repair her friendship with Puck, and talk about whatever else was going on between them, I don't know, neither of them had actually talked to me about it, so how should I know?

Without the three of them, it was just Sam, Mercedes, Kurt, Blaine, Brittany and I, sneaking into the water exhibit at the zoo to acquire a dolphin- or, okay, a gay shark. Turns out the zoo had a tank that contained three of the little sweethearts, and I was thankful for heaters as I splashed my hand in the warm water.

Sam was the best swimmer in our group, since he'd been on the swim team, so he'd volunteered to get in the water to lure the dolphins closer, since we didn't exactly have access to any dead fish. Already two of the three dolphins had come to investigate, and were currently darting around Sam, getting closer with each pass. Sam swam nonchalantly, mimicking the dolphins and trying to earn their trust, I guess. Like I know? I've never swam with dolphins before.

Finally after a while, one of the dolphins swam within reach, and Sam reached out and touched it. Instantly the dolphin fell into the acquiring trance, floating up and turning lazily onto its side in the water. Its mouth opened into that teasing dolphin grin, and its sparkling intelligent eye seemed to be looking at us. Sam floated closer, and Mercedes leaned over the water, stretching her hand out to touch the dolphin.

Kurt and Blaine waited behind her, and I looked around for Brittany. I spotted her on the other side of the tank. She was her natural self, and she was settled down close to the water, petting one of the dolphins. I shook my head in amazement as I moved up next to her slowly, careful not to spook the cheesing dolphin.

"How do you do that?" I murmured. "You did it with that squirrel, too."

Brittany turned a stalk eye to look at me. _[I call to them.]_

I raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "You _call_ to them? Somehow, I don't think that would work if I tried it."

Brittany laughed silently in my head, her amusement making me smile._ [It's easy, San.]_

"Maybe for you."

_[Try it.]_

"Britt…" I sighed, feeling stupid. No way was this going to work. But I guess I had to prove Brittany wrong, right? I sighed again. "Okay, how do I call to them?"

Brittany giggled. _[Just ask them to come over to you.]_

"Okay," I said slowly. "That's it?"

_[Nicely,]_ she added helpfully.

I rolled my eyes, then focused on the dolphin in the water. Its eyes were sparkling with what could only be mirth, and it was grinning at me, swaying back and forth in the water.

I took a deep breath, feeling completely silly and opened my mouth. "Hi, um. Dolphin. Could you come over here, please?" I felt my cheeks heating up, especially when Brittany laughed again in my head. I crossed my arms. She'd played me, hadn't she? I was about to scold her for teasing me, but to my amazement, the dolphin swam up to the edge of the pool and lifted its head out of the water, looking at me. Waiting.

Surprised, I scrambled to my knees, reaching to touch the dolphin's rubbery skin. I pressed my fingertips to its head and concentrated, focusing on acquiring its DNA. After a moment, I pulled my hand away, breaking contact, and the dolphin slipped back into the water seamlessly. I turned to gape up at Brittany.

"You totally did something," I accused, pointing my finger at her.

Brittany smiled her Andalite smile at me, her eyes shining playfully, and she shrugged.

I stood up, shaking my head and narrowing my eyes at her. I was about to say something when Sam called for us.

"You two about done?"

I gave Brittany a look to let her know _we aren't finished_, and then turned to Sam. "Yeah."

Sam nodded. "All right then. Let's head back. We've gotta get an early start tomorrow. Our ride leaves at six ten in the morning."

Oh. Right. We were going to become freighthoppers.

* * *

I kissed down Brittany's stomach, listening to her whimpers of pleasure. I took my time, letting my lips convey what my words couldn't, not yet. I pressed kisses to her hips, to her thighs, trying to tell her I was sorry, trying to tell her that I loved her, and that she meant everything to me, and that I was so scared-

"Santana," she breathed, stroking her fingers through my hair, and I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my lips to her inner thigh more firmly.

_I'm sorry_. I kissed higher. _I love you._ I kissed-

"San!"

Her fingers tightened, and I traced my tongue over her, tasting her, closing my eyes and savoring the feeling of being so close to Brittany's most intimate place. Her hips pushed against me, and I licked her again, stronger. She moaned, and I flicked my tongue.

_I'm sorry._

"Oh, _San_-"

_ I love you._

Brittany gasped as I sucked, as I nipped, as I swirled my tongue. It wasn't fair that I should get to enjoy this so much- that Brittany should give this to me so freely. I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve her. But for some reason, Brittany wanted me. For some reason, I was the only one who could make her feel like this, even though I wasn't worthy. I felt tears coming to my eyes.

I wasn't worthy.

I sucked harder, and Brittany shook, her thighs tensed around my head, her hands caressed my scalp lovingly. I knew she was close- I could feel her shaking under my tongue, throbbing-

I shifted, pushed two fingers into her. Brittany tried to suck in air, but she was struggling to breath as I slowly began to pump them in and out, curling on the exit, all the while stroking my tongue above her entrance.

"Santana!" She cried suddenly, arching off the bed, her hands gripping my hair almost painfully as her hips rocked into my face. I kept stroking, inside her, outside of her- brought her down gently and she trembled, tugged me up. She was gasping, and I finally pulled away to look at her flushed face.

She was beautiful.

"I'm sorry," I blurted, feeling my emotions overwhelming me again, my regret and shame blindsiding me. The tears I'd just managed to stifle came back full force, and I choked on my sob, burying my face against Brittany's stomach.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"Santana," Brittany said gently, her tone bordering on confusion. She sat up slightly, petting my head, and I held her tightly, crying against her stomach. I couldn't stop the sobs if I tried (I _did_)- they burst out of my chest so hard that it hurt, it hurt to cry, and I felt like such an idiot.

Brittany stroked her fingers down my cheek and I reached up to grab her hand, squeezing it almost painfully tight. "I'm so ashamed of what I did to you, Brittany," I confessed in a whisper that sounded more like a whimper.

"It's okay, Santana," Brittany reassured softly. "My scratches are gone- see?" She tried to lift my head, to show me her perfect, unscarred stomach, but I shook my head, letting out a humorless, watery laugh. God, she was so perfect.

"It's not just that," I said shakily. I finally shifted to look at her. I had to be brave- for her. I had to make her know I meant it. I owed her that much, didn't I?

Brittany waited for me to explain, and I took a shuddering breath. "It's not just that," I repeated. "It's- it's everything, Brittany. It's every time I was cruel to you. It's every time I treated you like shit, or was a total bitch to you. You never deserved it, but I- I didn't even _care_." I reached up to wipe a tear from my eye. "You don't know how much I-" I choked. Swallowed. "How much I regret it. You mean everything to me, Brittany. Everything. You don't know how much I need you. _I need you_, Brittany. But I'm so- s-so _scared_. I'm so afraid that I'm going to hurt you again, that I'm going to push you away, and I can't handle that, I _can't_-"

I was cut off by Brittany kissing me, and I cried harder, feeling pathetic, because, come on. Brittany pulled away slightly, but looked at me seriously. "You will _never_ push me away, Santana."

"But-"

"I told you already- _I love you_. _All_ of you. And I accept the bad parts with the good."

"But I don't want there to be bad parts," I whimpered.

"Oh, honey," Brittany cooed, stroking my hair softly. It calmed me somewhat. "Everyone has bad parts."

"_You_ don't."

Brittany was silent for a moment. "I do," she whispered.

I shook my head. "You could never." I kissed her cheek.

Brittany hugged me to her and I buried my face against her neck. I felt exhausted. Crying was really draining, you know? I snuggled into Brittany and closed my eyes. For the first time in days, I felt okay. I knew my head wouldn't be quiet for good- but it was a start. I knew I could make progress. I knew I could get a hold of my insecurities and doubts and work on them. I knew I wasn't _trapped_. I sighed, content.

I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard Brittany whisper, "I need you, too, Santana."

* * *

We all had breakfast together the next morning. Puck tried to give us as much information on the Yeerk ship as he could, but it wasn't really a lot. Visser Seven had had minions to run it, so he didn't exactly need to be involved. He'd had other shit to worry about. It was understandable.

But not very helpful.

Arty told us that Sugar had managed to get them an Xbox, so he and Puck were going to play some stupid shooting game- like where is the fucking appeal in that, though? We were already killing people _for real_. Why would they want to simulate it, too?

Whatever.

Kurt tried to make conversation, and Brittany conversed, but I remained quiet, avoiding him still. I didn't really want to talk to him. I had nothing to say, really. He seemed to notice, because he shot me several concerned looks, that I also avoided.

But I couldn't avoid him forever, and after breakfast, he cornered me outside the bathroom.

"Look- we need to talk," he said, crossing his arms and giving me a pointed look.

I shook my head, crossing my arms and mirroring his pose, averting my eyes to the floor. _No_. Not now-

"I get it, all right?"

I looked up, finally meeting his eyes. "How can you?" I hissed.

"Okay, maybe I don't have a violent psychopath living inside me-"

"Not helping."

"But I know why you're upset." He took a deep breath. "And I'm sorry."

I looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "I'm still upset about Finn, and I have no reason to be." He shook his head bitterly. "But if I don't blame _you_, who can I blame?"

I shrugged. "Blame Finn. He chose that life."

"And that's what's hard for me to accept. He's my _brother_. Well, my step-brother, but _still_. I thought I knew him. I can't believe he would sink so low."

I uncrossed my arms, my expression softening. "I know it's hard to accept. But blaming me isn't helping anyone."

Kurt nodded. "You're right." He paused. "I didn't tell anyone about Celeste."

I swallowed, my stomach clenching. "Why?" Was he planning to use it for blackmail? He had to have an ulterior motive-

Kurt shrugged. "I can't imagine what it's like to be so exposed or make the realizations you must've had to make about yourself," he said gently. "And I sort of get it. I don't even know what I would be capable of if someone hurt Blaine. I mean- I shocked myself when I saw you mangle Finn. I just lost it, and I smashed that Yeerk without a second thought. It was like I wasn't even me." I felt a chill go down my spine. Maybe Kurt _did_ know what it was like. A little. His eyes met mine. "I honestly don't know what I would've done- what I would still do- if someone I love was in danger."

"She wasn't in danger, though," I whispered shakily.

"Everyone has their triggers," Kurt said with a wry smile. "The point is- I get it. And I'm not judging you for it. Your secret is yours to tell, not mine. I just- I don't want there to be any hard feelings between us, all right?" He put his hand on my shoulder. "We've got to stick together. We're the only ones we have. And it's time I accepted that, and let Finn go."

I nodded, swallowing and forcing my emotions down. "Thanks, Kurt."

Kurt smiled. "Anytime. So, what do you say? _Team Gay Shark_ for the win?"

I laughed. "_Team Gay Shark_ for the win."

* * *

_[Somehow I thought this was going to be more dramatic,]_ I said as I landed on the top of our train, which was creeping out of the station. _[You know, like in those old _Wild West_ movies?]_

_[You watch _Wild West_ movies?]_ Mercedes asked.

_[Is it too late for me to refuse to answer?]_

_ [It will get plenty exciting when the train picks up speed,] _Sam said. _[We should move down between the cars.]_

We fluttered carefully across the top of the train car, as the train did exactly what Sam said- picked up speed. We hopped down to a small balcony between two cars and waited.

_[Now what?]_

_[We carefully climb into a car and ride this baby to our stop. Then, in an hour, we change back to bird and fly all the way to the lake,] _Sam said enthusiastically.

I transformed back to my normal self and followed Sam as he yanked the door to the boxcar open, the wind whipping my hair in my face as I tried to maintain my balance. The train jerked violently, swaying with the tracks. I'm pretty sure I was going to die.

"What a great idea," I muttered. "I'm so glad we waited for this thing to go ninety miles an hour before we tried to climb inside of it."

"You said you wanted drama," Sam tossed over his shoulder, and I rolled my eyes, but made it into the boxcar without any trouble.

With a graceful leap, Brittany slid in behind me, leaving me open-mouthed. I had no idea how she did that. Mercedes, Kurt, and Blaine tumbled in after her, landing sprawled on the wooden floor.

"Sam, if there are hobos in here, I swear to God," I grumbled, settling down Indian-style with Brittany leaning against me.

Sam just grinned at me.

* * *

Our journey from the train was just as undramatic. But once we actually got in the water, oh, that was where the fun part was.

"Oh f-f-fuck-ck-ck," I chattered shivering violently. "It's f-freezing."

"T-t-t-transform," Sam told us.

I looked over at Brittany, who was currently her natural self and swimming rather gracefully. Yep- turns out Andalites could swim. I sure as hell would've never guessed that. I closed my eyes and focused on becoming the dolphin, and felt the changes begin.

My face bulged out into the dolphin's long nose. Immediately I began to sink, and I panicked. I was gaining too much weight! My lungs grew, but I didn't have enough air, and I was still sinking below the water. I was going to drown! I kicked my legs, but they were still my own human ones, and weren't strong enough to haul my mass to the surface. Shit. Should I transform back? No, I'd probably die before then-

I felt something nudge me, and then I was rising to the surface. Someone was lifting me, who was it? My mouth broke the surface and I sucked in air, then I bobbed back down to get a good look at my rescuer. A dolphin was swimming beside me, grinning at me from underwater.

_[Be careful, San,]_ Brittany said, nudging me again with her dolphin nose.

I almost laughed in relief. _[Thanks.]_ I focused on finishing my transformation. My legs thickened, became rubbery and twisted together to form a powerful dolphin tail. My feet flattened into flukes, and my arms shriveled into flippers. I felt the dorsal fin grow out of my neck, and then, suddenly, I was warm. I'd never been so thankful for blubber!

I kicked my tail and moved effortlessly through the water.

This was awesome!

I kicked again and felt giddiness overtaking me. This was more than awesome. This was euphoria! Why couldn't dolphins fly? I could totally be a dolphin forever-

_[Okay, this is way cool,]_ Mercedes said from somewhere nearby.

_[I know, right?!]_ I said enthusiastically. _[I can't believe we've never been dolphins before!]_

_[We didn't have a reason to,] _Sam admitted. _[But I'm glad we do, now!]_

_[Hey- watch this!]_ Blaine said. He swam downwards and then turned up, powering his tail, shooting through the water faster and faster until-

_[Yeeaaahh!]_ he yelled as he burst through the surface and into the air, landing with a splash a yard away.

_[Woah!] _Sam said._ [Awesome, dude!]_

_[I'm gonna try!] _

_[Me, too!]_

Okay, so we definitely probably should've focused on the mission, right?

Except- we were having _fun_. When did we ever have fun anymore? The dolphin was just naturally full of joy, and it was kind of rubbing off on us. We were all giggling like idiots.

_[Puck, Quinn, and Arty are gonna be sorry they missed out,]_ Mercedes laughed.

_[For real,]_ Kurt agreed, giddy.

_[We've been transformed for 47 minutes,]_ Brittany pointed out. That snapped us out of our glee.

_[Okay, guys,]_ Sam said, sounding all business. _[Puck said the tank ship should show up at eleven forty-five. It'll collect water for about ten minutes, and then it'll be gone. So we only have ten minutes to get on that thing.]_

_[How will we know when it's here?]_ Blaine asked.

_[I guess just follow the currents in the water?]_

I heard a bunch of clicks in the water. _[Who was that?]_ I asked.

_[It was me,]_ Brittany said. _[I was using this animal's natural means of communication to determine where we are. I think we should swim further out into the lake.]_

_[Oh, right. Dolphins can echolocate, can't they?]_ I wondered out loud.

_[Seems that way,]_ Kurt agreed.

I thought about it, and then fired off some clicks from somewhere in my lower jaw. It was weird. The little sound waves or whatever travelled through the water and bounced back, and gave me a sketchy sort of picture of my surroundings. I don't really know how it worked, but my brain did. So I decided to let it do the processing. I fired off some more clicks.

_[Hope we don't wake up the Loch Ness monster,]_ I mumbled as I echolocated everywhere. Because, come on, how cool is it to have natural _sonar_? Do _you_ have sonar? Of course you don't. Haters gon' hate.

_[Well, there's a thought I really didn't need,]_ Kurt joked.

_[Yeah- who knows what lives in this lake,]_ Sam chimed in cheerfully.

_[Maybe a giant alligator,]_ Blaine said. _[Like _Dinocroc_.]_

_[Ya'll have been watching too many of those _Lake Placid_ movies,]_ Mercedes complained.

_[Actually, it was _Sharktopus_,]_ I joked.

_[No, it was _Piranhaconda_,]_ Sam said, sounding slightly offended that I'd named the wrong godawful Syfy movie.

_[You guys are weird,]_ Brittany said seriously.

I couldn't stop laughing.

* * *

We waited around in the center of the lake for a while_. [And we're sure it's _this_ Great Lake?]_ I asked for probably the millionth time in the last five minutes. _[I mean, there are five of them…]_

_[Yes, this is the one,]_ Sam said tiredly.

I sighed irritably and kicked my tail. I was bored. And when I got bored, I got restless. And when I got restless, well-

I fired off some clicks. Fish. Rocks. Seaweed. I fired off some more. Fish. Rocks. Seaweed. And some more. Fish. Rocks. Wait a minute-

_[Hey, guys!]_ I called. _[I think- I think the water's moving.]_

_[Where?] _Sam demanded, swimming up beside me. I sent some more clicks out, indicating the direction to the others. Five more sets of clicks joined mine, and I got back a super sketchy picture, but- yeah, it was definitely moving.

_[That's it,]_ Kurt confirmed.

_[Let's go!]_ Blaine said, and he kicked his tail, leading the way.

The rest of us followed, and it was weird. I felt a tingly sensation on my skin once I passed into the circle of where the water was flowing upwards, and I looked up.

_[It's like a giant hose,]_ Mercedes said.

_[And we get to swim up it!] _I added with fake enthusiasm.

_[Goody,]_ Kurt muttered.

_[We're running out of time. Let's do this,]_ Sam said, and he surfaced, took a deep breath of air, and then powered down into the water and out of sight.

I shook my head, but did the same- surfaced, sucked in air through my blowhole, and then motored back into the lake, swimming towards the huge hose, swimming with the flow of water. I swam up, up, up. It was weird, because I knew I was far above the surface of the water, and finally the hose opened up into a huge tank.

I spied Sam at the top, and I surfaced, taking another deep breath.

Brittany, Mercedes, Kurt and Blaine popped up next to us. We were in a huge container. The ceiling was a grate. I could see light shining down on us. In fact, as I swam around the tank, I could see all of the room surrounding the grate. There was a metal hatch on the wall, and not much else. I swam back down, firing off clicks. There wasn't much to the tank, either. There was a drain grate in the floor. And another hatch, that seemed like it opened from the other side. Weird. Why would anyone need to get into this tank? Maintenance? Did Yeerks do that? I shook my head.

The water in the tank was continuing to rise. We didn't have much time until it was full. But all we had to do was transform into something small enough to get through the holes in the grate-

I nudged my nose against one of the holes. It didn't go through, and I felt dread washing over me. Oh, shit. I nudged the hole again, just to make sure.

It was a forcefield.

_[Uh-oh,]_ I said.

_[What is it?]_ Blaine asked.

_[I think we might be-]_

A loud scraping noise rumbled, making the water vibrate around us. I could hear it with my ears, feel it in my lower jaw. The hole where the hose had been was closing! I fired off some clicks, and my echolocation confirmed it.

_[We're trapped.]_

* * *

**UH-OH!**

**So, some shit's about to go down! I think. LOL, just kidding, it totally is!**

**I should have the next chapter up later this week, unless my computer gets hungry again. D: **

**Review if you feel like it. Or not, I mean-**

**It's alllll in your haaaaands!**

**See you soon, pals!**


	32. Lucky

**A day late, a buck short, I'm writing the report: on losing and failing; when I move, I'm flailing now!**

**-jaaammmmsss-**

**Okay, sorry. **

**HI DEAR READERS! Sorry this is a little late, time is hard to come by but I should have more time to write this week so next chapter should be on time. I know I say that every week but JUST HUMOR ME OKAY GOSH.**

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, lurked, favorited, followed, and skipped (eh, what're ya gonna do?) last chapter. You're all shining stars. :')**

**Happy reading! **

* * *

Trapped.

I tried not to give in to the panic that came with that knowledge, but it was kind of difficult when everyone else was freaking out, too.

_[Oh, God, we're gonna die, aren't we?]_

_ [Or get trapped as dolphins!]_

_ [Then you'd be _gay_ gay sharks.]_

_ [Wouldn't they cancel each other out?]_

_[Can you focus?! We're trapped!]_

_ [No duh. But freaking out about it isn't going to help,]_ I said snippily.

_[There's got to be a way out,]_ Sam agreed.

_[Well- there's that hatch over there, but it looks like it opens from the other side.]_

_ [Wait,]_ Blaine said. _[Why don't we just ride this thing to its destination?]_

_ [To the Mother Ship?]_ I asked incredulously_. [What the fuck, that would be even more horrifying!]_

_ [Well, we could just blow it up when we got there, right?] _

Brittany laughed. We were silent for a moment, a little stunned by the sound.

_[Britt…?]_

_ [Sorry,]_ she giggled_. [The idea of blowing up the Pool Ship… it was just funny.]_

_ [Why?]_ Blaine asked, incensed and obviously offended.

Brittany turned serious. [_The Pool Ship is extremely encoded. There's no way anyone but an elite Andalite scientist specializing in hacking or a Yeerk insider could hope to break into its controls. It is heavily guarded and it would be impossible for us to slip onto the ship undetected. But those wouldn't even be factors, because it is very likely the Yeerks have some sort of decontamination process to eliminate any life forms and purify this water before it reaches the Mother Ship, ensuring our imminent death.]_

_ [That's really comforting, Britt,] _Kurt said angrily.

_[Hey, she's just telling us the truth,]_ I defended.

_[But now we _really_ need to get out of this tank,]_ Mercedes said hastily. _[We have no idea when that decontamination process is.]_

_ [And we can't wait too long, or we'll be too far out in space to survive the fall to Earth when this thing explodes,]_ Sam pointed out.

_[So in other words, start thinking of ideas,]_ Kurt said tightly.

Ideas? That would be nice. I wracked my brain for something. How could we escape? We couldn't go out the way we came, the grate was closed. We couldn't go up out of the tank- the forcefield was blocking it. The hatch was our only option, but it only opened from the other side. Which meant we needed to get someone on the outside to open it. But how?

Suddenly, I had an idea. And as usual, it was batshit crazy.

_[Britt, there's Hork-Bajir on the ship, right?]_

_ [Yes.]_

_ [Okay.]_ I paused. Would this even work? It _had_ to- no one else was coming up with anything_. [I have an idea,]_ I told the others.

_[Well, let's hear it,]_ Sam said.

_[We need the hatch opened from the other side, that much is obvious,]_ I started. _[And a ship like this is sure to have guards, right? So, we call them in and we convince them to let us out.]_

_ [And _how_ are we going to do that?]_ Kurt asked.

_[You mean, how are _you_ going to do it- you're the only one with a Hork-Bajir form, Kurt.] _

_ [What?] _He sputtered, flabbergasted. _[Brittany has one-]_

_ [I need her to take care of the computer panel outside the hatch- there should be one, right?]_

_ [Yes,]_ Brittany said, nodding her dolphin head underwater. The sight made me smile.

_[So what, I just change into a Hork-Bajir and call them in here?] _Kurt asked incredulously.

If I could've shrugged, I would have._ [Pretty much.]_

Mercedes laughed. _[It's crazy, but it just might work.]_

_[It's better than nothing,] _Sam agreed. _[Good job, Santana.] _

I cheesed a big dolphin grin and turned to Kurt. _[Be quick- we're running out of time.]_

_[I'm not sure I can do this,] _Kurt said, already beginning to shrink. Blaine swam under him and nudged him to the surface as he changed back to human.

_[You have to,]_ I said firmly.

Once fully human, Kurt took a deep breath of air from the small gap between the water and the forcefield, and then he began to change again. His skin turned a dark, leathery green, and blades erupted from his head, his wrists, his legs. When he was done, he was fully Hork-Bajir, and flailing in the water. It took him a minute to figure out how to tread water in his new form, but once he did, he swam out to the middle of the tank, where he would be fully visible to any guards that entered the room.

The rest of us began to transform to human (except for Brittany, who stayed dolphin to help us keep our heads above water while we transformed) staying out of sight. We would still be seen if someone tried to walk to the other side of the tank, but we were hoping that wouldn't happen. One by one we made it to our human forms and silently began to tread the still-freezing cold water. Mercedes was having the worst time staying afloat- I guess she wasn't the best swimmer- but Sam was a strong swimmer and he gave her some support, and Brittany nudged her up every so often.

Once we were all in position, Kurt screamed.

"_HRUTHIN_! _HRUTHIN_ HERE!"

He screamed a mixed combination of Galard and English (Brittany told him what to say) for about ten seconds before I could hear two sets of quick footsteps approaching. I held my breath and clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. It was _so cold. _And also I was pretty nervous. If our plan failed-

"Who there?" The guttural voice of a Hork-Bajir spoke, and I closed my eyes and strained to hear.

_[Carger Five Seven Four One,]_ Brittany told Kurt, who repeated it to the Hork-Bajir. God, we were so lucky to have Brittany. She was literally a lifesaver.

"How you end up in there?" The other Hork-Bajir asked angrily.

"Tricked by _fraghent Hruthin_!" Kurt said frantically from Brittany's cue, and I crossed my fingers, hoping the Hork-Bajir wouldn't call our bluff.

"_Hruthin_?"

"Yes!"

"Here?" The other Hork-Bajir clarified, and I rolled my eyes. _Yes, idiot. Andalites. On your ship. Now play along and open the stupid hatch._

"_Hruthin muragg_," The second Hork-Bajir said. "They're more trouble than _Transformers_."

I tried to figure out what the Hork-Bajir was talking about. I knew that _Hruthin_ meant _Andalite_ because I wasn't a complete idiot- wait, hold up a second; was it possible we _didn't_ just make shit up about there being other Andalites? I searched my memory. Dafydd _had_ said he was searching for other survivors from his destroyed Dome Ship. So that meant there _could_ be other rogue Andalites out there, causing trouble for the Yeerks, too. My eyes widened. If we could find them-

"_Gaffnur Hruthin_," the first idiot mumbled, bringing my thoughts back to the present, and the incredibly tense situation we were in. "Stay. I open the hatch." I resisted the urge to huff (because, honestly, what else could we do but _stay_?) and listened to the _plink plink_ of his tyrannosaurus feet on the metal floor as he walked away. I slowly let out the breath I was holding. He was going to open the hatch. _He was going to open the hatch._ I tensed in preparation.

The water began to lower, and I started to panic. Oh, shit. I hadn't anticipated that. Once the water got lower, we would be easier to spot, because we couldn't hide under the solid parts of the floor above our heads. Oh, boy. Shit was about to get interesting.

Once the water drained to the level of the hatch, it slid open, and I didn't hesitate. Neither did Brittany. She kicked her muscular dolphin tail and reached the hatch in less than two seconds, then powered up out of the water in one strong, deft jump that left me, uh, _impressed_, to say the least. Her rubbery stomach hit the deck and she slid, like a big dolphin bowling ball, across the floor and into the Hork-Bajir standing at the computer panel, hitting him with a forceful _thwump_. The Hork-Bajir went flying, but by the time he hit the ground, Brittany was already fully Andalite and climbing to her hooves, tail at the ready. I watched stupidly- all of it happened within seconds, and I was just pulling myself up out of the water when everything got crazier.

"_Transformers_!" The second Hork-Bajir yelled from above, spotting us, since we were all swimming like mad to reach the open hatch. Well, at least the Hork-Bajir knew _that_ word. "Close the hatch!"

"Shit!" I hissed, hauling myself up onto the tiny ledge. The hatch began to fall closed and I half-crawled, half-slid across the wet metal floor under the quickly lowering door. I barely got my foot out from under it before it slammed closed with a loud _clang_. It was kind of like that scene in _Titanic_ where the one guy just barely scrapes under the door-

Okay, not the time to think about _Titanic_.

It was mostly dark in the room we were in, with just a glowing light from a large computer panel in one corner, and an overhead light that bathed the room in a pale green color. The Hork-Bajir in the room with us had staggered to his feet, and currently had his palm pressed to a large panel on the wall- probably an emergency hatch close switch. He took one look at Brittany and I saw the look of _oh, shit_ cross his face. He was obviously _not_ prepared to deal with an Andalite. It would've been comical if our situation wasn't so stressful, but eh, that's our life, right?

"Computer! Start decontamination sequence! _Nawin_!" The Hork-Bajir yelled at the computer corner, trying to back out of the doorway.

FWAPP!

"Aaagh!"

Brittany's tail struck the Hork-Bajir in the throat, rendering his voice unusable. Blood spurted from the wound, spattering Brittany's shoulder, but it was too late- I could hear the computer's affirmation that the decontamination sequence had been activated. _Fuck_. We had to move quickly-

I scrambled to my feet, slipping on the wet floor, and focused on transforming, but Brittany was already charging out the doorway and around the narrow, curved, elevated hall, her sharp hooves clanging against the deck. I heard a scream of "Die, _Hruthin_!" followed by the sick sound of Brittany's tail severing flesh and another _thwump_ of a body hitting the metal floor.

It was silent and I listened for the sound of more approaching footsteps, anything that would show we'd alerted the rest of the Yeerks to our presence- but it was quiet, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Brittany's hooves clopped a lot more quietly on the metal floor as she slowly made her way back down the spiral hall to the room I was in, and I shook my head in amazement as she came into view, looking like she'd just taken a casual stroll through the park or something. Definitely not like she'd just taken out two Hork-Bajir warriors in the span of thirty seconds.

The girl never ceased to astound me.

Brittany made her way over to the computer panel and began tapping her fingers on it rapidly. I took a moment to look around the room some more. There wasn't much to it. Just the panel, and-

I stepped over to the fallen Hork-Bajir. The blood pumping out of his neck had slowed to just a trickle- he was definitely about to die soon; he had already fallen unconscious. I took a deep breath and reached down to touch his flesh. I needed a Hork-Bajir form if we were going to be walking around this ship. I closed my eyes and concentrated, and after a moment, I pulled my hand away. I felt a sick, twisting feeling in my stomach as I watched the Yeerk wriggle out of the side of the Hork-Bajir's head, confirming what I already knew- the Hork-Bajir would die. But his DNA would live on, forever, inside me. It was kind of a bittersweet, yet also creepy, feeling.

After a moment, Brittany gave a frustrated sigh. _[I managed to slow down the decontamination process, but that Hork-Bajir was able to lock the computer before I could immobilize him,] _she said, sounding miserable._ [I can't stop the tank cleansing, and I can't open the hatch without completely hacking into the system, which would alert the entire ship to our presence.]_

I let that sink in for a moment. "Britt-"

_[I'm sorry,] _she said, her stalk eyes drooping with guilt._ [If I were a more skilled Andalite, I could-]_

"Stop," I said softly but firmly, walking over to her. I reached out and took her hand, stroking my thumb over the back of it. "You wrecked those two Hork-Bajir like it was nothing. You managed, through Kurt, to convince them to let us out. We'd still be in the water if it wasn't for you."

Brittany took a deep breath_. [I suppose you're right.]_

"That's because I _am_. How long do we have?"

Brittany shrugged, dropping her main eyes to the side. _[Less than an hour.]_

"Well, then we'd better get a move-on." I closed my eyes and focused on the Hork-Bajir DNA inside me, and immediately, I grew two feet taller. My knees reversed. My spine elongated into a tail, and blades shot out abruptly from my wrists, my elbows, my forehead. My mouth curved into a sort-of beak with teeth, and my neck elongated and curved. My skin toughened, turned dark green- my feet melted and then split into dinosaur-like feet.

Once I finished the transformation, I braced myself for the Hork-Bajir instincts, but nothing was really there. My vision was just a little bit dimmer than my own human vision, but my hearing and smell were better. I picked up on the smell of the dead Hork-Bajir nearby, and felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness wash over me.

I shook my head to shake myself out of it, and looked at Brittany, who was moving towards the doorway. I followed after her, trying to tap into my instincts- my Hork-Bajir legs worked drastically different than my own human legs, and I needed to use my tail for balance. As I walked up the spiral hallway after Brittany, I flexed my muscular arms, twisting to check out my new blades. I swung my arm and hit my wrist blade into the side of the wall. It made a _ping_! noise and I cringed.

_Ow_. Probably shouldn't do that in tight, enclosed spaces.

Brittany turned a stalk eye to look at me, and I could just tell without seeing her face that she was wearing an amused smile. I shook my head at her and she turned her stalk eye back to scanning the opposite direction. When we reached the second fallen Hork-Bajir, Brittany immediately crouched to acquire his unconscious form.

_[Britt, don't you have a Hork-Bajir form already?]_

_ [Yes, but it won't help us on this ship. Hork-Bajir recognize each other just like humans do, San.]_

Oh. Well, I guess it made sense. I wondered why they hadn't recognized Kurt, but then, I guess not everyone knew everyone on the entire ship. Although, blending in as much as possible was probably the best idea.

Once Brittany was fully Hork-Bajir, I looked at her.

_[Now what?]_

Brittany grinned, which was kind of terrifying on a Hork-Bajir. _[Now, we find an access panel to the main computer so I can override the power to the Z-space thrusters. The influx of power should result in an overflow of energy and heat, in turn causing a mini internal explosion. Once the thrusters are down, it will be a simple thing to initiate a Z-space jump and the backfire will cause the main engines to outright explode, which in turn will hopefully cause a chain reaction of explosions and-]_

_ [Wow, Brittany, you could've just said you were going to blow up the ship.]_

_ [I'm going to blow up the ship.]_

I couldn't help but laugh a little. _[Cool.]_ We carefully dragged the unconscious Hork-Bajir out of sight, just in case anyone poked their head in to the water tank room, and told Sam and the others what was going on. They weren't happy about having an hour or so to live, but they had returned to dolphin form to stay warm and make swimming easier. Once Sam had warned us about a thousand times to _be careful_ and reminded us about _low profile,_ Brittany and I set off out into the main hall. I had no idea how to navigate the ship, but Brittany seemed to know where she was going, and I followed her lead, trying to square my shoulders and look like I belonged.

No one questioned us. I was actually surprised at how easy this was. Brittany twisted and turned down a maze of hallways, and I followed stupidly, impressed again.

Finally, my curiosity got the better of me. _[B, How the hell do you know where you're going?]_

Brittany giggled in my head, her Hork-Bajir body remaining stoic and aloof with a stony, hard expression. It was a weird combination_. [The floor,]_ she said. She nodded down to it briefly as we passed another Hork-Bajir, who looked like a jackass because he thought she was nodding to him. I tried to keep from laughing by looking down at the floor, and for the first time, I noticed a set of very thin, different colored lines of light over by the sides of the walls.

_[The different colors lead to different parts of the ship,]_ Brittany explained_. [Yellow is the cargo bay. Blue is where we came from, the supply tanks. And green leads to the engine compartment- that's where we're going.]_

There were more colors- orange, red, white- but I didn't ask. I mean, they all lead to parts of the ship, right? It's not like they ended at a pot of gold or something. Brittany turned left and I noticed that the yellow and white lines split off, and as Brittany continued, eventually all the lights split off so that there was only the green light left. When we reached the end of the light guide line, we were stopped at a large sliding door with a panel. Brittany placed her palm on it and tapped the screen a few places with her claw, and after a moment, the door slid open.

Holy fuck, how was Brittany such a genius? I mean, I knew she was good at what she did, but not _this_ good. I guess I really didn't know that much about her experience and knowledge in warfare, but I was starting to. And, okay, it was kind of incredibly _hot_.

I followed Brittany through the doorway and into a small enclosed room. The door slid shut behind us and a loud electronic voice announced that it was going to scan us. I panicked for a slight moment before Brittany said, _[Don't worry- we're authorized. Remember, we are Hork-Bajir who work on this Truck Ship.]_

And again, I was impressed that Brittany had the foresight to acquire that Hork-Bajir. I felt a slight tingle as the computer, or machine, or whatever the fuck, scanned me, and then the panel in front of us slid open, revealing a metal walkway. Brittany immediately walked across the walkway and turned left, halting in front of a computer panel very similar to the one back near the hatch, only drastically bigger.

_[Keep watch, please,]_ Brittany instructed, and seconds later, she was her normal Andalite self with her fingers flying over the computer touch panel. I scanned the room for any sign of movement, listened for any sound. But other than the whirr of the engines and the occasional click, it was silent. No approaching threats.

It took several minutes before I heard Brittany shift her weight and I looked over my shoulder. Her eyes were wide and excited. _[Did you get it?]_

Brittany nodded absently, still focusing on the panel, and then after a few more moments, she paused. _[I've initiated the energy diversion,]_ she started, not pulling her attention from the computer. She tapped a few more spots. _[However, I still can't override the hatch controls without bringing attention to our presence. Once the thrusters overload, the sequence I've programmed will begin without prompting, and by then it will be too late for this ship. It's then that we can release Sam and the others from the tank-]_

The door panel slid open suddenly, and three Hork-Bajir walked in. They halted when they spotted us.

"_HRUTHIN_!" One of them yelled. The other one lunged to the right and smashed his fist through a glass box, and a deafening alarm sounded.

Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET!

_[I don't think we have to worry about alerting the Yeerks anymore, Britt,]_ I said tightly as the Hork-Bajir charged towards me_. [Start the sequence!]_

I readied myself for a fight that I definitely was not anywhere near prepared for- I mean, I was in a new form that I wasn't completely used to, about to fight three guys who were a lot more skilled than I was.

To put it bluntly- I got my ass beat.

I raised my wrist blade to block the swing of the first Hork-Bajir but then he was bringing his other arm towards me in a cut, and his elbow blade raked across my chest, slicing it open deeply. Hot blood gushed down my torso and I cried out in pain. I tried to stab at my opponent but he easily avoided my swing. I tried to tap into my Hork-Bajir instincts, but Hork-Bajir weren't fighters- they were a peaceful species that used their blades to harvest _bark_, for fuck's sake. So I had nothing to tap in to, and no training with my blades- unlike the three alien lizards I was currently getting the smackdown from. I did the majority of my fighting as a cheetah, and they were preadators, they had instincts-

"UHFF!" I wheezed out as the second Hork-Bajir kicked me in the stomach with his huge, clawed feet. His toe punctured me a little and I staggered back. The third Hork-Bajir whipped around, and his spiked tail hit me in the ribs, knocking me completely off balance. I went sprawling, hitting the metal floor and landing on my elbows. One of the Hork-Bajir bent over and stabbed me in the back, and I jerked in agony- he'd definitely punctured a kidney, or whatever the Hork-Bajir equivalent was, and in the back of my hazy, pain-blurred mind I wondered what was taking Brittany so long with the computer-

Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET!

And all the while, the alarm blared on, drowning out my hearing.

Another jolt of pain in my ribs and I was kicked onto my back. I tried to curl up, to protect myself, but I was losing touch with my limbs. I was growing numb, going into shock. The foot of a Hork-Bajir landed on my chest and I barely felt his claws digging into the deep cut in my flesh. I'd lost a lot of blood. I tried to swing my arm, but it only made the Hork-Bajir above me laugh at my pathetic attempt to defend myself. I blinked, tried to focus, but my vision was dark and swimming. I struggled to breathe- there was pressure on my chest, and I struggled to relieve it. Fuck-

FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP!

_[Santana, transform!]_ Brittany told me firmly.

I focused my brain on my own form and slowly began to shrink. As my vision became more focused with my change, I watched as Brittany brutally dropped the last Hork-Bajir with an angry snap of her tail. I sat up, fully human, and her eyes met mine. Her expression softened. I traced my eyes over her form, but she was completely unharmed. Three Hork-Bajir, and they hadn't managed to land a single slice on her.

I felt kind of pathetic.

_[Are you all right?]_ she asked gently, reaching out to help me to my feet.

"My pride is pretty wounded," I admitted sheepishly.

Brittany smiled with her eyes. _[It's okay, Santana. You weren't used to the form.]_

Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET!

I cringed as the alarm continued at a deafening volume, putting me on edge. Especially since I was fully human. I took a deep breath and struggled to think of what our next move should be, while fully expecting an army of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons to come bursting through the door ready to hack us to pieces.

_[I started the hatch override sequence,]_ Brittany told me. _[The Yeerks will be making their way to the tank as soon as it starts.]_ Her face fell with regret_. [We have ten minutes, at most.] _

Ten minutes to get across the ship to the water tank. There was no way, but-

"We should do something to take the pressure off of the others," I said loudly over the alarm. It was the only thing we could do, really. We couldn't beat the Yeerks to the water tank room. I offered Brittany a sly smile. "Draw the Yeerks' attention somehow."

Brittany perked at my words. She twitched her tail in anticipation_. [What better way than an Andalite?]_

I shook my head and held up my fingers. "_Two_." It took her three seconds to board my train of thought, and I chewed my lip. I knew this was going to be weird for her. "You don't mind, do you? I just-"

_[A little,]_ Brittany confessed with a shake of her head. _[But he's not you. And you're not him, because he's dead.]_

Well. Shit. When she put it that way, it sounded really fucking morbid. "That's not too creepy," I muttered as I closed my eyes and focused on the change.

Within moments I was fully Andalite, standing on four powerful legs as Dafydd-Karof-Scee. I flexed my thick tail, whipped it over my shoulder to test it out. I felt strong. I felt confident. And Andalites had natural intelligence and fighting instincts. This form would suit me a lot better-

_[Let's go,]_ I said, not missing the way Brittany winced at the sound of my thought-speak voice. I tried to shrug off her discomfort with the fact that I was helping her by being in this form.

I took several commanding steps, my large hooves clomping on the walkway floor, and moved through the door and out into the hallway with Brittany flanking me.

"_HRUTHIN_!" A Hork-Bajir screamed, and then-

FWAPP!

He wasn't screaming anymore.

* * *

It was total chaos after that. Brittany and I flew down the halls, encountering various groups of Controllers who tried to engage us.

_[Ugh! Gross!] _I complained as my hooves slid through spilled Taxxon guts. I had sliced into one and it had erupted like a wet sack of a mixture of fresh dog shit and rotting half-filled cartons of milk that had been sitting out in the sun for three days and then sprayed by a skunk, who then died on all of it. Yes, I'd given it some thought. Another Taxxon was attempting to eat the steaming, putrid remains of the Taxxon I'd slashed, but otherwise wasn't trying to engage me, so I left it alone. Brittany and I were kind of in a hurry.

Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET!

We pounded around corners, pursued and pursuing. Controllers screamed at us, some attacked, others ran. And all the while I felt something like adrenaline flowing through me; I was _pumped_. It was exhilarating, and when I wasn't hacking through Hork-Bajir, I was watching Brittany with unrestrained adoration as she gracefully and gorgeously did the same. Waves of Controllers came after us, and we cut through them with ease. They were no match against an Andalite, never mind two. Maybe a dozen-

_ [-ittany! Santana! If you can hear me: answer!]_

_ [That's Sam!]_ I said. I was practically vibrating with energy as I called out to him. _[Sam! We're here! Get ready, the hatch is going to open in-]_ I looked at Brittany for confirmation.

_[-three minutes,]_ she finished, snapping her tail to decapitate a Hork-Bajir that was charging at us from an open door on the right. _[Prepare yourselves for escape!]_

I nodded my head, impressed, as Sam wished us luck and cut off communication. I was still getting used to the _seeing in all directions at once_ thing, but I was definitely digging it. It was really useful.

_"GHAFRASH!"_ A Hork-Bajir screamed at me suddenly from the left.

_[Aaagh!]_ I yelled in response, whipping my tail forward and cutting his neck.

He staggered back, clutching his severed jugular equivalent; blood seeped from between his claws, and I ignored him_- threat neutralized, move on. _

Skree-EEET! Skree-EEET!

I galloped after Brittany, who turned a sharp left, halting at a door. She tapped the panel for a moment trying to hack into the system while I stood an extremely terse watch, and then the door slid open and we slipped inside.

Four Hork-Bajir awaited us and we made short work of them. I couldn't believe how much power I had- I'd literally just taken on over a dozen different opponents and still felt incredibly energized and strong, like I could take on two dozen more. I shook my head in amazement. Being an Andalite was kind of awesome.

I looked around at the room we were in._ [We're in the secondary engine compartment,]_ Brittany explained, trotting over to the large computer panel. _[Where the thrusters are located.]_

_[Well, that's lucky,]_ I said.

_[I'm going to check to make sure the hatch override has finished- it should have completed by now.]_

_[Okay. I'm going to stand here and look majestic.]_

Brittany swiveled her stalk eye at me in question and then focused all of her attention on the computer panel.

_[The Yeerks sure are dramatic,]_ I commented absently, noticing for the first time the familiar flashing red light blinking in time with the alarm, which was still blaring. Just like at the Haverbrook tower, it cast a red glow over the room, and I scanned around me. I saw a doorway leading to another small room that contained huge metal machinery and briefly wondered what it all did. Brittany had said it was engine stuff, right? I wondered if the thrusters were in there while Brittany continued to type. She looked frustrated, and I felt the first trickle of dread come over me. Something had to have happened-

"Die, _Hruthin_!"

_[What the fuck?!]_ I snarled as a Hork-Bajir dropped down and tackled me from above, making me stagger and collapse under his weight. He sliced my shoulder deeply and I cursed, trying to swipe him with my tail but he was literally on my back. His arm tried to wind around my delicate neck in a chokehold and I kicked my back legs to try and wriggle out from beneath him. His huge neck blocked my stalk eyes so I couldn't see behind me (imagine that) and I blindly stabbed my tail towards myself, hoping to catch him. He was fast and elusive, and I grew more and more frustrated as his arm tightened inch by inch around my neck.

_[The Yeerks have overridden the hatch release!]_ Brittany raged from the computer panel.

_ [Those fuckers,] _I managed as I thrashed on the ground with the Hork-Bajir. Finally, I caught a quick glimpse behind me, and it was enough- I cracked my tail and the Hork-Bajir released me because he no longer had that arm attached to his body.

I climbed to my feet and finished the Hork-Bajir off quickly as Brittany continued to analyze what was going on. _[They've halted the bypass, too]_ Brittany continued, sounding slightly desperate.

_[So what do we do now?]_ I asked, panting. Andalites were not good for wrestling.

Brittany looked up from the panel, her determine blue eyes like cold steel. She fixed her gaze over my shoulder and then she was moving around me, approaching the huge machinery in the adjoining room, and-

CLAAANG! SCREEEEUUULLLLL!

Brittany had stabbed her tailblade into the side of an enormous, round hunk of metal and then gouged a huge hole in the side of it, opening it up.

I laughed in disbelief, stepping forward to watch her. _[_That's_ your bright idea, baby?]_

Brittany paused to shrug at me, then spun around and kicked her back legs into the mangled metal.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

_[It works,]_ she said. The metal sparked and hissed and smoke rose from nearby, and a loud grating noise filled the room, making me wince.

_[Then why didn't we just do that to begin with?] _I demanded. We wasted _all that time_-

_[I thought we were trying to be low profile,]_ Brittany said nonchalantly, offering me another casual shrug. _[We should probably exit now, there will be an explosion soon.]_

_[Um. Wow,]_ I said, speechless for once as I followed her back into the computer room. The loud _BOOM_ of an explosion thundered from behind us, making the floor vibrate a little.

_[That would be the thrusters backfiring,]_ Brittany said brightly. No sooner had she said that when another alarm started going off, even louder than the first one.

DE-DEET! DE-DEET! DE-DEET!

_[Great,]_ I said tightly. _[Now let's rejoin the others, and-]_

_[Not yet,]_ Brittany said, moving back over to the computer panel.

_[Britt-]_

_ [I'm going to try and access the navigation controls to lower us; we are too far above the Earth's surface.]_

I shifted my weight impatiently, edgy. _[Hurry.]_

Brittany typed quickly on the screen while I waited. More small explosions echoed from the adjoining room, the alarm screamed, the lights flashed, and I could hear voices shouting outside in the hall. I was getting nervous, tense, and-

Brittany cursed, slamming her palm down in frustration on the panel. _[It's no use, I can't override it-]_

_ [Then let's just go!]_ I urged.

Brittany looked up at me. _[We won't survive- we'll be incinerated re-entering the atmosphere!]_

I froze. I hadn't realized we had made it out into fucking _space_ already. That definitely put a major flaw in the plan. _[Shit, okay,]_ I said, wracking my brain for what to do. _[Is there anywhere you can override the controls?]_

Brittany shifted her eyes to the side, then back to focus on me. When she spoke, I felt a chill run down my spine.

_[The bridge.]_

Fuck.

* * *

We ran. On the way I informed Sam of what the plan was as Brittany guided me through twists and turns, following the white light that led to the bridge. All around us was total chaos and complete pandemonium. Controllers were scrambling, most of them unconcerned with us. The panic alarm had been triggered, and everyone was basically running for their lives. They were a lot more concerned with escaping- with _surviving_- than fighting a losing battle with two stampeding Andalites.

When we burst onto the bridge, we came across one lonely Taxxon desperately manning the navigation of the ship. When it spied us, it hissed and I raised my tail menacingly, but I didn't strike. The Taxxon backed away from the controls, skittering across the deck, and I felt my skin crawl at how creepy its giant centipede-looking body was. It cowered, slinking into the corner; Brittany immediately moved to the spot it had occupied while I stood guard.

I kept my eyes trained on the Taxxon. It stared back at me, not unintelligently. I wondered what kind of mind was behind those cold, red, jelly eyes. I mean, it was a creature, too. All things just want to survive, don't they? In that moment, I felt kind of sorry for the Taxxon. It was on a doomed ship that was facing imminent destruction. Brittany and I would transform and escape, but this Taxxon- it would die. It had no escape. It was just a tool to the Yeerks, and its life would end as a slave, not even able to spend its last few moments as a free being. I thought of the hundreds of Controllers on the Truck Ship, and felt a wave of pity.

_[We're lowering,]_ Brittany reported. The ship shook a little_._ _[We're entering the atmosphere, now. Two minutes until-]_

KA-BOOOM!

The ship shook violently, throwing Brittany and me off our hooves. I slid across the floor as explosions rocked the entire ship.

_[What the fuck was that?]_ I yelled.

_[The engines finally exploded!]_ Brittany said. _[This entire ship is about to-]_

KA-BOOOOM! KA-BOOOM!

_[Change back!]_ Brittany screamed desperately, climbing to her hooves, and I no sooner closed my eyes when the entire side of the bridge ripped open and the ship listed to the side, tilting. A huge hole had opened up and the angle of the ship made me feel like a giant person had snatched it out of the air and was pouring me out of it. I could see the ground, miles and miles below me, and it made me dizzy- I was so high up, and-

I tried to find purchase on the floor but I was sliding towards the hole, and all the while my hooves were shifting into feet, my tail was shriveling away, and-

FWOOOOM!

I was suddenly out in the open air, falling, falling, falling. Wind was whipping in my face, I was dizzy from spiraling towards a ground that was growing larger at an alarming rate, and my stomach was clenched in fear. My heart pounded, pulse raced, and my entire body was changing. I was spinning out of control and I tried to close my eyes and focus on the change, but it was terrifying.

I mean- have you ever gone skydiving without a parachute?

Obviously not, or you'd be dead. But.

Fuck, _I_ was skydiving without a parachute!

"Aaaaaghhhh!" I screamed as I plummeted towards the ground. It was growing bigger and bigger and- "Fuck, Santana!" I yelled at myself, my voice floating away. "Transform, idiot!"

I focused on the kite DNA inside me and began to change rapidly; the ground was rushing, rushing, rushing. I vaguely wondered if Brittany was okay, if the others were okay, but _no_- I couldn't think about that, I had to _focus_. I shrank; my arms grew feathers, but too slowly, _too slow_-

I screamed again, and my mouth curved into a beak, my toes split into talons, feathers spread over my skin, and the ground grew closer, closer-

I finished the change with literally no time to spare, tilted my body so that I was shooting straight down in a dive and at the last second flared my wings, swooped in an arc and shot back up, rocketing into the sky.

_[YEEEEEAAAHHHH!]_ I screamed into the clouds. _[I can't fucking believe I survived that!]_

A duck whizzed past me, Brittany's giggles filled my mind, and suddenly I was ecstatic, I was _pumped_. Nearby I could see the Truck Ship falling towards the Earth, a huge mass of flames, plumes of smoke billowing from it. Chunks of the blazing inferno were falling from it, and I shook my head in amazement.

I fucking _survived_ that!

I chased Brittany's tail (no pun intended) and she led me on a dizzying path through the trees in the forest where we'd ended up. I knew we were back in our state, but I had no idea where. And I didn't even care.

I was alive!

After a moment, Brittany and I landed and I changed back to human. I collapsed against a tree with relief, laughing hysterically. It was freezing, but who cares? I was too energized. I vaguely wondered if the others had survived, but I would worry about them in a moment. I needed a second to let my brain catch up with the rest of me, because _that_ was too crazy!

I was catching my breath, still laughing, when Brittany sauntered up to me- human. I gave her a questioning look but she only offered me a sexy smirk in response. My mouth felt dry. I had exactly two seconds to react before Brittany advanced on me.

And then we were kissing, and Brittany was pressing into me, cupping my face firmly in her hands and pushing me back against the tree. Her tongue invaded my mouth; my heart, which hadn't actually slowed down from the fall, sped up impossibly further, and my pulse was racing so fast I thought I was about to explode with energy, and I was already _aching_ with need, and I was already moaning, and-

Brittany's hands were everywhere; I gripped the back of her neck with my right hand to steady myself, because I felt literally swept off my feet. How cliché, right?

"_Fuck_, Britt, I love you _so much_," I panted hotly against her mouth when I pulled back to gasp for air. She gave me seconds to catch my breath before she was kissing me again, all fierce and searing, and I could feel her heart slamming against her ribs, too. "I'm so _lucky_ to have you," I managed between kisses, and she kissed me harder, pushed me into the tree harder, and I was so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude and relief and _so much love_ and admiration for Brittany that all of it manifested in the form of laughter. I grinned widely as Brittany moved to attack my neck-

-And then my laughter quickly turned into a sharp hiss as she sucked roughly at the base of it. I tightened my arms around her and rolled us, reversing our positions, and clenched my fist in her hair with one hand, reaching up to tug on her nipples through her shirt with my other.

Brittany gasped against my lips, but didn't resist as I invaded her hot mouth with my tongue, and then I was driving two fingers into her, shivering at how wet and ready she was. Moaning, Brittany buried her face into my neck. Her velvet tongue slid across my skin and I used my free hand to pull her thigh up and hook it around my waist, reaching deeper inside her with my fingers.

Her head fell back and hit the tree with a _thunk_, but I didn't slow my pace. "Careful," I panted, but Brittany only moaned in response, thrusting her hips encouragingly. She wasn't quiet- her moans echoed and bounced off the trees and were swallowed by the depths of the forest. Her lack of restraint was incredibly fucking hot. I knew we were completely alone, but- what if we weren't? What if there were campers listening to me fuck Brittany against a tree? I shuddered.

"Oh- _Seerow_- Santan-a," Brittany gasped, then immediately followed with an extremely embarrassed, "_Sorry_!" I chuckled against her jaw, moving my lips to her pulse point, then lower, sucking deeply, biting her skin, marking her.

"Britt- did you just- _curse?"_ I giggled, pulling my fingers out to tease just above her entrance. She was too close, and I wasn't ready for her to come yet.

"Sorry," she repeated in a whimper, trembling in my arms. "He doesn't deserve it-" She thrust her hips desperately, searching. "Please, Santana, _please_-"

Her begging made me ache with desire, and I pushed into her again, making her head jerk. She bit down on my shoulder, and that was it. I let go of all restraint and fucked her into her orgasm, until I could feel the vibrations of her scream of release against my shoulder, making me shudder with pleasure. Fuck, she was so _hot_-

Brittany moved to kiss me fervently, and I let her tongue stroke mine for a few moments, smiling against her mouth. Her hand fisted my hair and she growled, eliciting a moan from me in response.

_[Santana! Brittany!]_

I broke the kiss in surprise and annoyance, contemplating just ignoring Sam. Brittany and I could find our own way home-

_ [Santana! Brittany!]_

Brittany's eyes sparkled with love and amusement, and she cupped my cheek, her thumb stroking over my cheekbone. She smiled brilliantly at me, and I stared, smitten, into her eyes. I was so in love with this beautiful, perfect girl-

_[Santana! Brittany!]_

I sighed. Brittany giggled. She pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

And then we began our transformations.

* * *

It was later that night, after we'd all eaten dinner, and we were gathered back in the entertainment room. We'd relayed our adventure to Quinn, Puck, and Arty, who was disappointed that he'd missed out on such an epic mission. We'd all survived- totally lucky, right?

I was on the couch, with Brittany sitting _right_ next to me, her legs in my lap. I stroked up and down her smooth skin, and she leaned her head against mine. I felt- good. _Great_, actually. We'd fucked up that Truck Ship, we'd all survived, and I was even _more_ in love with Brittany- yeah, I know, how is that even possible, right?- than before. I sighed. Life sucked a lot of the time- but it was moments like this one that made it all worth it. I nuzzled my head against Brittany's like the corniest person in history and she giggled lowly, squeezing my hand.

And that's when Sugar came in.

"I have some news," she announced without any preamble, interrupting our little congratulatory party for ourselves. We all gave Sugar our undivided attention as she paused dramatically. "It's finally been confirmed."

"What has?" Sam asked patiently, obviously wanting to get back to patting himself on the back like a tool.

"Beiste has returned from the Capitol."

* * *

**AWWWW SHIIIITTTTT.**

**So next chapter- the _attempted_ Rachel rescue mission- IF Puck can convince the others it's worth it. BUT WILL IT REALLY BE WORTH IT IN THE END?! **

**Find out next time, on No Solid Ground!**

**(that was for you, dear reader- you know who you are!)**

**Thanks for reading! :')**

**Review if you feel like telling me about this crazy ass chapter. :D But if not, well. It's okay. I'll just be over here- side-eyeing you. Hahah I'm just kidding. ;)**

**(but not really)**

**Okay, well, see you next time! **


	33. Limit

**Dearest dear readers,**

**I would just like to take this moment to apologize for the insanely long wait for this chapter. I haven't been in the mood to write these past few weeks, particularly because I didn't want my feels to affect this story. But this past week I've manned up and gotten my mojo back. Regardless, I will reiterate that, like Santana, I will **_**never**_** give up on Brittana (OUCWUTIDIDTHURR) or this story. Not ever. So thanks for your patience; also thanks to those of you (you know who you are….. naynay…) who pestered me to update. I appreciate every single one of you little sweet darlings out there! :'D**

**Oh, God, shut me up, PLZ. **

**Anyways, here I am, blazing in on my trusty steed with the longest chapter I've written. I'm setting a lot of stuff up in this chapter for the end arc of the story (which is still like five chapters long, so don't worry, haha) so I hope you enjoy.**

**On a completely unrelated note, special shout-out to the fairest jelly of them all, **_**jellymankelly**_**, who is really pretty rad and if she ever updates, you should totally check out her story **_**Pain**_** and, well, **_**all**_** her stories, because there is really not a single reason not to. **

**Okay, well, happy reading! 8D~**

* * *

"Die, _Hruthin_ scum!"

_ [Brittany-]_

FWAPP!

"Aaagh!"

I watched as Brittany took out her opponent, avoiding a blow from another, and tried not to worry so much about her. Brittany had always been able to handle herself, but- we were a little outnumbered, and I couldn't help stressing over her possibly getting hurt.

A sudden cut to my shoulder brought my focus back to my own fight, and I winced as the Hork-Bajir in front of me drew back his arm in preparation to cut me again. I nimbly dodged his attack, slinking to the right and coiling my hind legs to pounce forward and up, sinking my teeth into the thick flesh at the base of his neck and dragging him to the ground. He flailed as I ripped into him, but I managed to avoid taking any more damage as I finished him off, crushing his windpipe and feeling the air seep out of him, his jerky movements slowing.

All around me, the sounds of animals tearing into flesh, of thrashing and struggling, filled the air. Screams of pain echoed off the walls, the smell of blood and fear overpowered my sharp cheetah senses. We were winning the fight, but very narrowly, and we hadn't exactly accomplished what we set out to.

_[To your left, Kurt!]_

_ [Aaahh!]_

_ [Sam- behind you!]_

_ [Look out!]_

_ [He's on me!]_

It was madness! I tried to keep an eye on Brittany, but we were separated by at least a dozen Hork-Bajir. She was just a lavender blur that I spied in between the rapid slashing movements of the bodies between us.

I hissed as my new opponent attacked my head, slicing my right ear off. Pain surged through my body but it wasn't unbearable- but it pissed me off.

This is so not what I wanted to be doing today.

With information from Sugar and Puck, we had attacked a small, Yeerk-run factory disguised as a warehouse on the outskirts of our old town in the hopes that we would do some damage, but mostly because we wanted to get Puck back in the swing of things. We didn't expect much, just maybe a few Hork-Bajir guards and some human-Controllers. Which is exactly what we found when we got there.

Except-

Within moments, the cavalry had arrived, and we'd been severely outnumbered and not even close to destroying the factory. Oh, and the best part? The factory was used to make the steel tanks used for the mini Yeerk pools. The sheer amount of them was a little horrifying, and I wondered how many of them were already out in the public, how many people the Yeerks were planning to infest by force. They were getting a lot more aggressive, and I knew this war was coming to a head soon. We were going to reach a point where the secret came out and it became a full-on war instead of a secret invasion, and I had no idea if that was a good thing or not.

But first things first- taking down this factory.

My eyes met the Hork-Bajir's in front of me, but despite my best deadly, glaring stare, he didn't seem fazed. I didn't miss the orange cloth tied around his arm, either- I would have to be extremely careful. I was already feeling run-down and ragged.

I circled to the left cautiously. Heavy footsteps to my left made me pause. A second Hork-Bajir Crip had approached, and now I was caught between the two, like a very unfortunate sandwich.

Fuck.

My tail flicked in nervousness.

TSEEEW!

I jumped at the sound of Dracon fire so close to me. Or- was it? It sounded- well, _different_, and my extremely sensitive cheetah hearing (even with one ear gone, har har) could notice the subtle changes in the sound of the weapon being fired. The Hork-Bajir surrounding me looked abruptly fearful, and I turned to see where they looked.

My jaw literally dropped.

Three Andalites- two male, one female- had entered the warehouse. I watched in idiotic bafflement, expecting some kind of halo around them. I couldn't believe my eyes- I blinked quickly, trying to process the fact that there were more Andalites- that I had been right in my assumption of there being more.

_[Andalites!]_ Sam cried from somewhere nearby.

_[I see them!]_ Kurt responded tightly.

_[I can't believe it!]_ Mercedes yelled. I just continued to watch stupidly.

It really was kind of cheesy, I guess- I felt like I was in an action movie, like _Charlie's Angels_ or something, where the heroes enter the room in slow motion and all the bad guys drop. That's basically kind of how it was.

The trio was armed with handheld devices similar to Dracon beams- I guess what Brittany had referred to as _shredders_ in the past. Pale green light erupted from the shredders and Hork-Bajir fell all around them as they carved a path straight across the battlefield with stupid precision and speed. Three deadly tails whipped faster than I could see as they charged across the warehouse, heading to the center where the main reservoir that contained the hot metal alloy used for the steel tanks was.

I suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Die!"

A cut laid open my ribs to the bone- ow, shit, is that my _kidney_?- and I tore my gaze away from the admittedly impressive Andalite trio to refocus on the fight. Just as I sprang into action, a deafening explosion rattled the entire structure, knocking the Hork-Bajir I was mauling to the ground for me. Convenient, but-

_[Watch it everyone! They blew up the reservoir!]_

_ Well, no shit, Sam. _

I felt a sting on my head and realized that drops of hot metal were raining down. In the distance, the huge metal tank was an inferno of flames, and more mini explosions were happening down the line of conveyor belts and processing lines. I knew it wasn't going to be long before the whole warehouse collapsed.

_[We've got to get out of here,]_ Quinn said suddenly from my right, her lion form panting. Her normally white coat was matted with blood, and I cringed.

Another small explosion made the ground shake below me, and to be quite honest I was getting really tired of explosions and fire. Quinn sprang away and I moved to follow her once I checked to make sure my liver was still inside me after that vicious jab moments ago from that now-dead Hork-Bajir. I was only a few paces behind her when another Hork-Bajir leapt into my path and engaged me, slicing into my back and puncturing something vital.

Fuck, what is with all the cheap shots to my organs lately? I cried out in pain- because fucking _ow_, my fucking _organs_- and when the Hork-Bajir swung his arm down to cut me again, I bit into his forearm angrily, taking satisfaction in his scream of pain as I twisted my head, feeling his muscles rip beneath my teeth. He tried to pull out of my grasp, and then we were in a mini tug-of war.

_[I don't have time for this shit!]_ I snarled as more hot metal flakes singed my neck.

BZZZAAT!

_[AH!]_ I yelped as something hit my right flank. It felt like getting stabbed with a cattle-prod- not that I knew what _that_ felt like- and I screamed again as the pain intensified. My rear leg felt like it was on fire, and I collapsed to the ground, unable to move. My muscles were spasm-ing uncontrollably- what the fuck was going on? I tried to move, but the pain was too intense, my muscles, my limbs wouldn't respond. I could only lie there, twitching, in agony. My vision swam.

I felt a slow, cold sensation crawling through my leg, almost like a numbness. It was a terrifying feeling, because I couldn't feel my leg- or my ribs- or my chest- or-

* * *

I woke up with a start, my eyes snapping open and focusing on the ceiling. Where was I? I sat up, looking around wildly as my heart raced, trying to recognize my surroundings. I calmed considerably when I realized I was in the hospital wing of the _Batcave_. The small lamp next to my bed was lit, casting a faint glow over the otherwise dark room.

"Shh, Santana, it's okay," Brittany said soothingly from her chair beside me. I turned to look at her, trying to slow my breathing, trying to slow my frantically pounding heart. At least Brittany was with me. That made me feel a lot better.

"What happened?" I croaked. Ugh, that sounded gross. I swallowed, cringing at the bitter, foul taste in my mouth. My throat felt dry, and some areas of my body tingled, but otherwise I felt normal.

Brittany handed me a glass of water, which I accepted gratefully, then she reached up and ran a hand through my hair, calming me further. I relaxed back against the pillow of the bed and let her stroke my face as she spoke. "You were sedated into unconsciousness," Brittany murmured, as if it was no big deal.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Eight hours and twenty-six minutes."

My eyes widened and I sat up straighter. "What?" I gasped. How the fuck had I been asleep for that long? What the hell had the Yeerks shot me with?

I asked Brittany that very question and she shrugged. "It seems the Yeerks have developed some new weapon. I'm not exactly sure what it is, though."

"Fuck," I breathed. "That's not good."

Brittany shook her head. "I was worried about you," she admitted softly. "Are you okay?"

I shrugged. Was I? "I guess so." I looked at my hands. I wiggled my toes. Everything seemed to be working. I looked into Brittany's concerned blue eyes. "How did I get here?"

Brittany blushed. "I carried you. You were unconscious."

I smiled softly at her, feeling my heart give a lame flutter in gratitude. Brittany had saved my life- again.

"Thank you," I said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. She looked at our hands for a moment, stroking her thumb over the back of mine, and then her gaze snapped up to my face.

"Oh! I almost forgot." She leaned to reach her other hand down beside her onto the floor, and when she brought her hand back up, she presented a bouquet of the most pathetic-looking flowers I'd ever seen. "These are for you." I tried not to frown at the weeds- they were wild flowers that she'd obviously gathered from somewhere, but it was nearing the end of winter, so they were basically pretty dead.

But did that matter to me?

I looked from the flowers to Brittany's hopeful expression, and couldn't help the huge grin that threatened to break my face as I accepted the bouquet from Brittany. "Thank you, Britt. They're lovely."

Brittany beamed and kissed me, and I felt like even a dozen long-stemmed roses in a crystal vase wouldn't have made me happier in that moment.

* * *

"So it's like a Dracon beam, but with incapacitation powers?" Arty asked curiously.

"That doesn't make any sense whatsoever, considering the Dracon beam has a stun setting," Quinn muttered.

"Well, they're a lot more vicious than the stun setting on a Dracon beam," Puck explained. "They're meant to do more harm."

"Tell me more," I said with a roll of my eyes. I still felt on edge, and it had been hours since I'd been downed by the Yeerks' new weapon.

"Whether they're redundant or not, they're bad news," Sam said seriously. "and the Yeerks are using them- this is only the first we've seen, but we'll probably have a lot more run-ins with them in the future."

"They were in development for a while before you guys sprung me," Puck agreed with a nod of his head. "The Yeerks got the ideas from humans, actually- they're like, Dracon Tasers. _Drasers_, I called them." He laughed at his own joke and I just looked at him like he was an idiot.

Which. Okay.

"Oh, no, this is going to stick, isn't it?" I groaned. "Like-"

"Like _Transformers_," Mercedes chimed in with a soft smile.

"Why did we save you again?" Kurt joked.

Puck looked mildly offended. "Because I'm the number one badass?"

I rolled my eyes. "Right. Well."

"Some advanced alien technology," Blaine joked.

"Yeah, those Drasers are basically like a glorified Taser bullet," Sam pointed out. Yeah, pretty sure we had already established that.

"Which the police already have," Arty agreed.

"And Puck _already explained_ the Yeerks got the idea from humans, so why are we still having this discussion? Can we move on?" I demanded, gritting my teeth. I felt myself getting worked up despite my best efforts to remain calm, and Brittany placed a hand on my shoulder, rubbing soothing circles on it. I took a deep breath.

"Well, human-inspired or not, we have no idea what the lasting effects are," Mercedes said softly.

"Comforting," I mumbled.

"And it's a lot more painful," Blaine grumbled. He'd been shot, too, and his irritability mirrored my own. It made me feel a little better knowing I wasn't the only one experiencing the grating sensation of my nerves crackling under my skin a little. It didn't exactly hurt- it felt like random, very faint bursts of static electricity. But it was annoying and it made me fidgety.

"We have to be even more careful, now," Sam was saying in his serious adult voice. "We can't risk being captured, we could lose everything." His words made me swallow, hard. I had been completely incapacitated. If Brittany hadn't carried me out, the Yeerks would've captured me- and I would've woken up with a Yeerk in my head. The thought made a chill go down my spine and I shivered.

"Well we were doing fine until those other Andalites attacked," Quinn pointed out. Uh, no- what the fuck battle was she fighting? I was getting my ass handed to me until- oh- that reminds me-

"Remember when we were trapped on the Truck Ship?" I asked suddenly.

"Unfortunately," Kurt muttered.

"Well, the Hork-Bajir didn't act surprised that you'd been tricked by Andalites- he acted like they knew there were Andalites around." I paused. "The Yeerks already know who we are, know we're _human_, so if they knew it wasn't us, they must've thought it had to have been them."

"Makes sense," Sam said, nodding his head enthusiastically. "Puck, do you know anything about them?"

Puck shook his head. "They've turned up a couple of times, but we haven't really had a chance to make contact or find out anything about them. They've basically shown up, wrecked some shit, and disappeared. Whoever they are, they definitely know what they're doing. They're pros."

Sam looked at Brittany. "Brittany, do you know who they are?"

I rolled my eyes. "Like she knows every fucking Andalite in the universe?" I grumped, cutting off Brittany's answer.

"It was just a question," Sam mumbled sheepishly, his ears turning pink with embarrassment.

Kurt sighed dramatically. "Well, now we have one _more_ thing to worry about."

"Right- we never know when those Andalites are going to show up and get in our way," Quinn said, her voice taking on a hard edge, like she was pissed off at those Andalites for ruining her party in the warehouse. I still wanted to know what fucking battle she'd been fighting.

"Well the next time they show up, we'll follow them home," I said sarcastically.

"That's actually not such a bad idea," Arty commented. "We could transform and follow them. They've got to be staying _somewhere_, right?"

"If they are Andalite warriors in the military, they will not be strangers to the transforming power," Brittany said firmly. "Transforming is not the best idea."

Sam held up his hand in concession. "We don't have to worry about that right _now_. Besides, we can't do anything until we run into them again, which means-"

"Another plan," Blaine sighed.

"Right. Now that Beiste is back, hopefully we can try and rally government support- maybe we can even let them handle it from here," Arty said excitedly, and I had to admit, the thought sounded really fucking appealing. We could let the government handle the Yeerks, and Brittany and I could fly off to a deserted island somewhere and become island children and have sex all day long and tan on the beach. I almost sighed out loud at the fantasy.

"We can't do that," Sam said, shaking his head.

Fantasy ruined.

"Why not?" Mercedes asked. "I'm all for taking a break from this war for a while."

"Or forever," Kurt agreed. At least they were all on the same page I was- but _no way_ was I sharing my island with them.

"Because we will still be in danger," Sam explained. "Beiste may believe in the Yeerks' existence and the invasion, but the majority of the government won't take us seriously- and if any of them do, they're basically placing a target on their head for the Yeerks to infest them. We need to continue as we are- but with Beiste on our side, we at least have a bigger support base to put my final plan into action."

"What plan?" Kurt asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. I was a little curious, too. Curious, and terrified. Whatever Sam was planning, it had to be big. Like, Yeerk Mother Ship big. I didn't miss when he said the word _final_.

Sam shook his head slowly. "I haven't worked out all the details yet, but…" He gave me a meaningful look, and our eyes met. I felt even more terrified. "When I know, I'll let you guys know." I swallowed. I knew what that meant- he wanted to talk to me about his plan before he put it into action. He wanted my opinion.

Which definitely confirmed that I probably should be scared of this plan.

"In the meantime, though, I was thinking we could try and attack that other parts factory Sugar mentioned, and-"

"No," Puck said, interrupting Sam.

We were all quietly surprised. I stared at Puck. Sam blinked. "No?"

Puck shook his head, his eyes hard. "No."

Sam laughed nervously, his eyes darting to me and then to Quinn, and back to Puck. "Okay, then, what do you suggest?"

"We said we'd revisit rescuing Rachel. And I want to revisit-no, I _demand_ that we _do_ rescue Rachel- _now_."

"Puck," Mercedes started gently, and Puck shook his head again, rising to his feet to command our attention. He clenched his fist. It was all pretty dramatic and I tried not to roll my eyes at him.

"I've waited long enough. I never ask for anything-"

"You haven't even been here," Kurt pointed out.

"But even when I _was,_ I never complained-"

I snorted. "That's a lie."

Puck glared as he continued, "-or asked for anything. But I'm asking for this now."

Sam sighed. "I just- I'm not sure-"

"She's a prisoner, Sam. Like your family." Puck looked at Kurt. "Like your step-mom and brother." He looked at Quinn. "Like your parents. She deserves to be free, like us."

"One could argue that for _everyone_," Arty said harshly. "Why is Rachel so special?"

"She's important to me," Puck countered.

"But what do we do with her once we have her?" Kurt demanded.

"Do we need to figure that out _now_?" Quinn asked.

"Well it's generally a good idea to know what we're getting ourselves into," I said. "We don't need a repeat of Sebastian."

"Who's Sebastian?" Blaine wondered.

"You've made your point," Puck growled. "But I guess it depends on what Rachel wants."

"Oh, what _Rachel_ wants," I said sarcastically. "Well isn't that great. Let's just do that."

"San," Brittany murmured. I crossed my arms. Puck and Kurt continued arguing, with Quinn jumping to his defense. It got louder and louder until Sam yelled for everyone's attention.

"Okay, here's what I think," Sam said, taking a deep breath. "We get Rachel." Kurt opened his mouth to protest but Sam held up his hand. "No arguments, we're doing this. For Puck." He offered him a small smile, which Puck returned. "Once we have her, she can stay here for a probationary period- then, after a week or so, we can vote on whether to give her the transforming power. If she accepts, she's one of us. If not, she can stay down here with our families."

"Maybe she'll clean the bathroom," I muttered.

"Maybe," Quinn laughed, an easy grin sliding on to her face.

"Is that acceptable to everyone?" We were all quiet, and Sam nodded. "Good."

* * *

"This has got to be one of the stupidest plans ever," I mumbled from my place beside Quinn. "And that's saying something."

We were leaning against a car in the parking lot of our old high school. The end-of-class bell had just rang, and we were waiting for Rachel in the parking lot like a bunch of after-school thugs. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I mean, our plan was literally "get Rachel." We just had to drag her to the parking lot across the street, where Sam was waiting with our trusty Pedo-Van. We really were turning into the fucking Scooby-Doo gang, weren't we?

I glanced down at my nails, trying to look casual, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Quinn had her arms crossed, standing tall and scanning the parking lot like a hawk. Several people gave us knowing looks before slinking away- Controllers. And they recognized us, obviously. We were pretty high on the Yeerks Most Wanted list, after all. It was a little exciting.

But mostly terrifying.

Did I mention that Quinn and I were in our old Cheerios uniforms?

We kept getting looks from our former Cheerios teammates, too. Some were curious. Others were bitter, betrayed. Some were full of hatred- I hoped those were Controllers, but it was hard to tell. There wasn't a whole lot of love lost between us and the Cheerios, after all.

I spied Celeste entering the parking lot, carrying a Trapper Keeper- seriously?- or something. She was still wearing a neck brace, and I felt bad for smirking in satisfaction at the sight. Okay, I felt bad for breaking her neck, too, but come on- the bitch deserved it, didn't she? Celeste saw me, froze like a deer in headlights, and turned quickly, nearly knocking over someone behind her in her haste to power walk in the opposite direction.

"How is she even still allowed to wear that uniform?" Quinn wondered under her breath.

"Coach Roz must've gone soft in our absence," I said with a casual shrug, dropping my gaze back down to my nails. Quinn's elbow nudging my arm made me look up again.

"There she is," Quinn murmured, her gaze intense and penetrating as she followed Rachel's movements.

I nodded, even though Quinn wasn't looking at me. I let out a reluctant sigh. Rachel was enthusiastically towing a small pink suitcase behind her, and I cringed. We were _really_ going to do this, weren't we?

As Rachel passed us, completely oblivious to our presence, Quinn caught my eye and I nodded. In complete sync, we marched up behind Rachel, then smoothly moved on either side of her, like two escorts.

"Hey, Hobbit," I said casually, and Rachel froze at the sound of my voice, but Quinn and I had already pre-planned our responses. We locked our hands around Rachel's upper arms as we walked, keeping her in place and preventing her from running as we guided her through the parking lot.

Rachel struggled, of course she did. But Quinn and I were stronger than her.

"You're making a mistake," she hissed angrily, stumbling along. We were practically dragging her. My fingers were digging into her arms, undoubtedly leaving bruises. It was a little satisfying.

"Probably," I conceded nonchalantly. "But for whatever reason, Puck wants you saved. And we take care of our own."

"You'll _never_ save this body."

"Well, to be perfectly honest, we have a pretty decent success rate for rescues," Quinn said sweetly.

"Precisely," I agreed. "So how abouts you just don't resist and come with-"

"HELP!" Rachel shrieked suddenly, trying to twist out of our grasp. She attempted to sit down but Quinn and I hauled her back up. "HELP ME! HEL-"

I clapped a hand over her mouth. "Fucking _shut up_," I snarled through gritted teeth while she continued to struggle violently. I could feel the vibrations of her muffled screams against my palm. And then-

"Owtch!" I yelped, yanking my hand away and inspecting it. There were clear red indentations in it- the little bitch bit me! "You fucking philistine- you could've warned me, I haven't had my rabies shot yet!"

"HELP! HELP ME!"

SMACK!

We all froze, and my jaw dropped. Did Quinn just..?

Rachel glared at Quinn and resumed trying to yank her arm away again.

Quinn grabbed Rachel's shoulders, trying to force her into submission- wanky- and snarled, "Rachel, stop resisting, or so help me _God_ I will shove a pair of Puck's soiled gym socks in that huge pie hole of yours-"

I shuddered. Wait- why would Quinn have-

"Is there a problem?"

Oh, shit. I recognized that voice. I looked over my shoulder and Rachel's eyes widened with relief.

"Yes!" Rachel chirped quickly, finally managing to pull out of our loosened grasp as I stared Mike and the four beefy football players he had with him down. Shit, shit, shit. This was _not_ supposed to happen. Trust Mike to be a gentleman- even as a Controller.

Mike crossed his arms intimidatingly and Rachel moved to stand by his side, hiding behind his left arm.

"No," I countered coolly. "No problems here, beefcakes. Except- you should probably lay off the steroids, you're really starting to look disgusting."

Mike narrowed his eyes. I saw recognition flicker in them- he knew who I was, and I mentally berated myself for going along with this admittedly stupid plan. Mike uncrossed his arms and slowly began to reach into his letterman jacket-

"Probably not a good idea, Michael," Quinn said sweetly, putting her hand on her hip. "We're out in the open- how many of these humans are Controllers?" She let that sink in, then answered her own question, tilting her head up in triumph. "Probably not enough."

Mike seethed, but reluctantly pulled his hand out of his pocket. He gritted his teeth, his eyes were so narrowed he didn't look like he even had eyes (because he's Asian, hah) and his hands balled into fists at his sides. I'd never seen Mike look so angry before, but he literally looked like he wanted to pulverize Quinn and me.

"Don't matter," Beefcake Number One said finally. "We don't need Dracons to take you losers out."

"Oh, yeah- four guys beating up two cheerleaders is going to look even _better_," I snorted, rolling my eyes.

"No one's gonna pay attention. We'll be quick."

Quinn shrugged delicately, unfazed. "Perhaps they won't, Strando, but _we_," she gestured to herself and me, "don't need to hide from the humans. Can you take on a lion and a cheetah? Plus whoever else," she jerked her head toward the edge of the parking lot, where the woods began, "might be waiting to join the fight?"

They all looked a lot more worried at that news.

I smirked. "Exactly. We'll be going now."

Quinn gave Rachel a significant look, ignoring Rachel's returning glare of pure hatred. "Hang on," she said softly. I'm proud that I didn't roll my eyes at how cheesy she sounded. "We aren't leaving you."

Rachel spat, and I frowned disgustedly at her.

Quinn and I backed away slowly, moving to the tree line and not taking our eyes off of the group of Controllers who stood glaring us down as we retreated. I thought once we reached the woods we'd be safe, but, no, that would've been far too easy. Once we left the open parking lot, we were immediately confronted by a line of about ten Hork-Bajir, and the best news? _All_ of them were sporting our favorite orange accessory.

"Shit," I breathed, feeling my blood run cold. We'd been caught. As humans.

We were going to die.

Or worse, become Controllers.

But probably die.

A Hork-Bajir in front of me drew back his arm to cut me, and I lifted my arms to block the inevitable blow to my head I knew was coming. I bit my lip, preparing myself for the impact, when a blur of lavender filled my field of vision and I heard the snap of Brittany's tail and the sound of the Hork-Bajir suddenly losing his hand.

"Transform!" I yelled to Quinn, whose hair was already sprouting into a mane as the other Hork-Bajir roared to life, converging on Brittany.

Shit, I should've been more specific, should've thought this through better- were we fleeing or fighting? I couldn't leave Brittany on the ground alone, but at the same time this whole fight was completely unnecessary- energy wasted when we could just run-

I made a quick decision.

"Quinn, no! Bird! Go bird! We've gotta get out of here!"

I focused on my kite and not on the sound of Brittany completely outnumbered, and felt myself shrinking rapidly. Beside me, Quinn had made it back to human and was just starting her change to bald eagle. In front of me, Brittany fought at least seven Hork-Bajir while I watched on in horror as she got hacked up. Fuck.

My quickly changing eyes fell to her face- Brittany's eyes tightened in pain and I heard a ragged, semi-squeaky snort emit from her as a Hork-Bajir stabbed her deep in the stomach. Oh god, that had to _hurt_-

I couldn't take it. I was about to shift back to human and blaze into my bull form when a bird dove down and gouged out the Hork-Bajir's eyes; it was Blaine, the _kestrel_- he had taken my advice and gotten a new bird form. I had never been so grateful for someone taking my advice, and I nearly sighed in relief as I completed my change to Mississippi Kite.

_[We've gotta distract them so Brittany can get away_!] I called to the others, flapping hard to get off the ground. Things happened _so fast_ after that:

I wheeled in the air, setting my sight on a Hork-Bajir to sink my talons into.

Kurt yelled from nearby, _[He's got a gu-!]_

**BOOM!**

Brittany stumbled, fell.

CHI-CHINK. **BOOM!** CHI-CHINK. **BOOM! **

Bullet holes ripped open her side, her chest-

_[BRITTANY!]_

_[It's a shotgun!]_ Sam yelled, having appeared on the scene. I guess he'd left Arty with the Pedo-Van-

_[No fucking _duh,_ Sam!]_ I snarled frantically, finally sinking talons into flesh. I hadn't even realized I'd made the decision to dive, I'd been so focused on Brittany- _Brittany_-

I was horrified. I'd never seen Brittany downed so quickly. Actually, I'd never even seen Brittany downed. But shot at point-blank range with a shotgun? Brittany was, after all, a glorified deer-

Angrily, I squeezed my talons and my victim shrieked in pain. My laser-sharp eyes focused on lavender, and Brittany feebly kicked her back leg, trying to find purchase to get up. Dark blue blood seeped in steady streams from the spray of shots she'd taken; her stomach looked like raw hamburger- if hamburger was the color of Grover and Grimace's bastard child. She kicked again.

_[That's it, baby,]_ I babbled, trying not to think about how much pain she was in. She just needed to get _up_-

_[That one's got a Draser!]_

I had just enough time to think,_ oh, f-_

BZZZAAT!

The electric bullet hit Brittany in the rib and she flopped, lifeless, back down to the ground.

Quinn's eagle screamed and raked sharp talons across the Hork-Bajir holding the Draser, and Sam hit the shotgun guy seconds later. But it was too late, _too late_, Brittany was-

_[Brittany, transform! _Please_, transform!]_ I begged, on the verge of tears. Birds cried, didn't they? _[Oh god oh fuck oh god this isn't happening-]_

A loud snarl startled me and I looked down to witness Puck, in wolf form, jumping into the fray, ripping, tearing. I shook my head, dazed. When did he transform?

_[Brittany, get up,]_ I pleaded, fluttering down to the ground and landing beside her. _[You've gotta transform, baby. Please, transform. Please.]_ I stared hard at her, and I could just barely make out her breathing; it was faint- but she was alive! But she wouldn't be if she didn't change _soon_.

_[Duck, Brittany,] _I told her_. [Duck. Focus.]_ I jabbed my beak into her shoulder, pecking her to prod her along. To get some kind of reaction. I poked her a few more times sharply, and felt her twitch, and finally, she began to shrink. I breathed a sigh of relief, but we were not even close to being out of danger yet.

_[Die, _Hruthin_!]_ A Hork-Bajir screamed from behind me, and I had just a second to wonder if we were about to die before-

_[Don't think so,]_ Puck growled, biting into the Hork-Bajir's thigh. He screamed, and I focused on Brittany again- she was transforming, but _so slowly_.

_[Faster, Britt- _please_,]_ I urged.

_[Keep it in the bedroom, Santana,]_ Puck joked tightly, and I wanted to slap the shit out of him because this was _so_ _not the time_-

When Brittany was fully duck she staggered to her feet and looked around wildly, letting loose a very startled quack. Her wings flapped frantically and seconds later she was in the air, hauling ass out of there- had she lost control of the form?

_[Britt!]_

I flapped hard to get airborne, and, satisfied that Brittany had escaped, Puck scampered away, racing through the trees and out of sight. I scanned the sky for Brittany, finally spotting the dark green feathers of her head in the distance, and flew like mad to try and catch up with her.

_[Santana-]_ Sam started.

_[I'm going after Brittany,]_ I barked, my tone leaving no room for discussion.

_[Okay,]_ Sam conceded immediately, and I was grateful that he didn't try to argue, for once. _[Meet back at Motta's when you're done.]_ He turned sharply to head in the opposite direction, towards the mansion, I guess.

I mean, I don't really know. I was too focused on Brittany, and why she was flying away.

* * *

I followed Brittany for a while, calling to her. She didn't answer, which scared me. What if the Yeerks had given her amnesia or something? What if they did permanent damage? I continued to fly behind Brittany, pleading for her to turn around or slow down or something, but she kept the same, steady pace, and remained silent. Eventually, she landed on a pond and began to preen herself. I shook my head in confusion.

I looked around for a moment and once I deduced that she and I were alone, I began to transform back to my normal self.

"Britt?" I called gently. The duck looked up, startled at my voice. I met its golden eyes. For a minute I felt stupid- had I followed the wrong duck? Brittany _had_ turned into a duck, right?

The duck turned, wagging its tail as it swam away.

"Wait-" I pleaded, before splashing into the water- _fuck_, it was _freezing_- after the duck, after Brittany. I felt frustrated and hurt and how the fuck? Was Brittany unconscious in the duck's brain? What was going on?

"Brittany?" I tried again, softer, ignoring the muck and slime now covering my stomach and arms. I shivered violently from the cold- and from the dread that something had hurt Brittany beyond repair. But mostly from the cold.

Thank the starlit heavens that winter was on its way out.

The duck- Brittany- studied me, as if trying to decide if it knew me. I know it's weird to think a duck could express that, but I _swear_-

_[Wha-]_ The duck flapped suddenly, gave a loud quack, and settled back on the water. _[Santana?]_

"Britt!" I wanted to cry in relief. Mostly because now I could get out of this cold, slimy-ass pond.

Brittany tilted her head, then looked down at her white chest. _[Why am I a duck? Why am I here?]_

"I think you were un-c-conscious, but the duck wasn't- oh, listen to m-me, does that even fuck-cking make sense? Is that possib-ble?"

_[Anything is possible,]_ Brittany said with a sagely nod of her bright green duck head. She paddled closer, and her flat beak nudged me in the stomach affectionately while I'm pretty sure my toes froze off. _[Why are you in the water? Aren't you cold?]_

"I'm fucking f-f-freezing," I said through gritted teeth, tightening my crossed arms, which I had wrapped around my torso to preserve some kind of warmth, but it wasn't really working. Like, at all.

_[Me, too. Ducks are not winter animals. They migrate south.] _

I stared at her. Shaking.

_[Let's go home.]_

"F-finally, something I under-st-stand."

* * *

Once we made it back to the _Batcave_, I dragged Brittany into a hot shower with me. I couldn't shake the cold from my bones, even though I'd just been a bird for over an hour and my transforming outfit wasn't wet or mucky when I changed back to my natural self. I also didn't want Brittany out of my sight for a while, at least until I rid myself of the feeling of dread from her almost dying that was still lingering in the back of my mind. It seemed like the best way to solve both of those problems was to take a shower together.

It was a lot more intimate than I thought it was going to be. I can't deny that the first thought that popped into my head when I pictured Brittany and me together in the shower was me pressing her against the wall, but it wasn't like that. We spent most of the time just standing under the spray of hot water, holding each other. Brittany reverently washed my hair and I spent the time planting soft kisses to her wet jaw, loving the feeling of her warm, wet skin against me and her fingers on my scalp.

"Hold still," she murmured when she was finished, guiding my head under the spray of water. I tilted my head back and sighed as she ran her fingers through my hair, working the shampoo out. She repeated the process with conditioner, even though she admitted that she wasn't exactly sure what it was for. I tried to explain it to her, but she argued that hair was composed of dead cells, so it was impossible to make them healthy. I just smiled at her, staring at her with an adoring expression on my face.

When she was done, I returned the favor, turning her so her back was to me and spending more time dropping kisses to her shoulder blades than actually shampooing her hair. She didn't seem to mind though. She reached behind her to rest her hands on my thighs, keeping me close, and stroking my skin with her thumbs. After she rinsed her hair, I slid my arms around her stomach and pulled her back into me, holding her. She let her arms rest on mine and I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against her shoulder, concentrating on the feeling of the hot water, Brittany's skin, and the subtle movements of her chest as she breathed.

Brittany shifted and I tightened my hold, unwilling to let her pull away yet- I was too content, and not quite completely reassured from earlier. Brittany had almost died- again. The last time I thought she was dead, it had prompted me to realize my own feelings for her. This time, all it did was scare me, because I was already aware of my feelings, and when you love someone with everything you have, losing them is the most terrifying thing that could possibly happen- because then you lose _yourself_, too.

I swallowed, feeling my throat tightening. I couldn't lose Brittany. She'd taken an unnecessary risk by saving me, and if the price was watching her die so that I could live, it was more than I was willing to pay.

"San," Brittany breathed, turning in my arms, and I suddenly realized that my heart was pounding, and my breath was coming much quicker than it had been only moments before. I was getting really worked up, and Brittany felt it. She cupped my jaw and lifted my head to catch my eyes, and I felt bad when I saw her expression of concern.

I tried to offer her a smile, but it came out a lot sadder than I wanted, and Brittany bit her lip, searching my eyes. I closed mine and leaned forward, capturing her lips, thankful when she didn't push to question me further. Instead, she pulled me close, and I couldn't help moaning as our bodies pressed flush together- she's really hot, okay? And we were both naked. It's a little impossible not to get excited from that.

Her hand not cupping my face crept up to tangle in my wet hair, and then her tongue was in my mouth, and I could still feel the water trickling down our bodies, adding to the sensation, and it both calmed me and excited me at the same time. My breathing turned heavier, more rapid. I pushed harder into Brittany, trying to get even closer, though it was impossible. I squeezed my arms around her, sure I was making it difficult for her to breathe, but she didn't protest, only kissed me harder.

She had just backed me up against the wall when three loud knocks on the bathroom door interrupted us, and Kurt's annoyed voice from outside the bathroom broke through my haze of arousal.

"_You're not seriously having sex in the shower right now, are you_?!"

Brittany giggled, dropping her forehead to my shoulder, and I sighed, reaching up to stroke fingers through her wet blonde hair.

"There's another bathroom, Kurt," I called back, sounding exasperated, because I was. Why did Brittany and I never get any privacy? Oh, right- because we lived with way too many other people. There are definitely ordinance laws about that sort of thing, aren't there?

"_But this one has all my stuff in it_!" He whined angrily.

"Not my problem."

"_Santana_-"

"_Come on, Santana_," Quinn called from beside Kurt, sounding amused. "_Are you really going to be able to finish, knowing we're both standing out here_?"

"I can sure _try_."

I paused. No answer. I smirked. I pressed my lips to the spot just under Brittany's ear, and then thought about the two of them standing there, annoyed and twiddling their little thumbs. Waiting. Perving on us.

"All right_, all right_, I'll fucking get out," I huffed. Brittany giggled again against my shoulder before pressing a soft kiss there, and I rolled my eyes at Kurt and Quinn.

"Fucking twat swats," I mumbled.

* * *

I took my damn time drying off, and when I opened the door, standing in a towel next to Brittany, who was similarly dressed, I was met with two very angry glares. I offered them a smirk before I grabbed Brittany's hand, lacing our fingers together, and leading her to our room.

"It's all yours."

"How _gracious_ of you," Kurt said with a roll of his eyes.

Once I slammed the door to our bedroom, I pulled Brittany into a searing kiss, tugging her towel down without any preamble. She responded by grabbing my thighs and hoisting me up, forcing me to wrap my legs around her waist. She didn't break the kiss as she walked us to the bed, not even when she laid me down on my back on it, not even when she positioned herself on top of me, letting herself rest pressed against me. I moaned at the pressure- I was still wearing my towel, but it had ridden up, since my legs were still wrapped around Brittany's waist.

Brittany lifted up slightly to peel my towel apart, her expression awed as she revealed my tan skin, even though she'd just spent the last thirty minutes taking a shower with my completely naked body. She bent down to kiss my collarbone, sucking a lingering drop of water into her mouth, and I moaned as her tongue swiped across my skin. Her lips travelled up my neck and I tightened my legs around her, pulling her down more firmly against me so that I could grind up into her. She whimpered into my neck and I smoothed my hands up her bare back, tracing the strong arch, gliding over her shoulder blades. She was beautiful, and perfect, and I turned my head, nudging her with my nose to get her to kiss me- which she did, sloppily.

We kissed for long moments, and my heart thudded with happiness. My thoughts raced, replaying moments that filled me with joy- moments like the one I was in. I didn't want to give up those moments. I wanted the rest of my life to always be like this- showers with Brittany, heated naked make-out sessions with Brittany, anything, just as long as they included Brittany.

I kissed Brittany harder, trying to convey my emotions through my mouth, trying to convey how scared I had been that Brittany had almost been killed. When I couldn't kiss her another second because I was completely out of breath, I pulled back, gasping, "Promise me you won't do that again."

"What?" Brittany mumbled, sounding dazed. Her eyes opened slowly, and they were dark but sparkling. Her mouth was slightly parted, as if she was savoring the intense kiss we had just shared.

I swallowed thickly. "You jumped into that fight."

It took her a moment, and I could see her back-tracking play out on her face. She shook her head a little, confused. "To save you."

"Brittany- you can't do that."

"I'll _always_ do that, Santana," Brittany said, her voice sounding just a little bit upset and desperate. "I'll always protect you."

My heart fluttered, but as sweet as her words were, I had to make her understand. "You nearly got killed."

"But I didn't."

"But what if you _had_?"

"What if _you_ had?" Brittany shifted slightly, pulling away, and I already missed her being so close to me.

I dropped my gaze to my left, staring at an empty wall. I mean, she had a point. "I would've figured out something," I muttered.

"Before or after you were hacked to bits?" Brittany demanded, frowning deeply.

I blinked at her frankness. "Britt-"

"No, Santana," she said, her voice holding true anguish that made me cringe. "If I didn't step in, you- you would've been, like, decapitated or s-something." She squeezed her eyes shut in pain and I bit my lip, regretting having ever started this conversation. I reached up to cup her cheek and she gripped my hand tightly, burying her face against my palm.

"Britt…" I whispered, completely surprised by how she was reacting. I sat up a little, craning my neck to press a kiss to her chin. "I'm sorry," I breathed.

"I've been fighting this war for a long time, Santana," Brittany confessed, her voice soft and humorless. I sensed she wasn't done talking, so I kissed her chin again to encourage her. She squeezed my hand tighter and I saw her swallow. "I've been fighting this war for a long time," she repeated, "without reason. Or at least without _personal_ reason." She turned her head, still cradling my palm to her cheek, and looked at me. I nearly gasped at the look in her eyes- she was looking at me like I was her entire reason for existing, and I suddenly felt my throat getting tighter as I realized where she was going with her confession.

"You are the only reason I fight now," Brittany whispered. "You are the only reason I care about winning this war anymore. I can't- I w-won't let the Yeerks hurt you, Santana, I- I'd rather die-"

I cut her off with a firm, thorough kiss. When I pulled back, I rested my forehead against hers, listening to our heavy breathing. "I want to grow old with you, Brittany," I whispered, keeping our conversation intimate. "I want to spend my life with you. You're the only person- the only _being_ that I want to share that with, that I've _ever_ wanted to share that with. I want to come home to you every day and wake up to you every morning, and fall asleep on our couch together watching stupid shows like _Storage Wars_. I don't want to wake up worrying about whether today is _that day_, you know?"

Brittany nodded against me, and she gripped my hand so tightly that I'm pretty sure my circulation stopped, but I clutched hers back just as tightly as I continued, "I have this dumb fantasy- do you want to know what it is?"

"Yes," she breathed, tugging my hand up to kiss my knuckles. Our foreheads were still pressed together and our hair kind of made a curtain around us, so I felt safe telling her about the daydream I'd had earlier- even if it was lame as fuck. I let out a breathy laugh and smiled, feeling a little silly.

"We tell the government about the Yeerks, and the invasion- everything. And then, you and I fly away to a tropical island- like, a deserted one," Brittany chuckled happily against my knuckles, and I smiled wider as I continued, "and we spend all our days there, lying in the sun and making love."

"That sounds perfect," Brittany admitted. "But what about what Sam said?"

I shook my head slightly. "Sam is dumb- what does it matter if the government believes us or not? Sooner or later, the truth will have to come out- the government won't be able to deny it, and the Yeerks can't hide forever; they're already getting reckless. It's only a matter of time."

"What if the truth comes out, but it's too late?" Brittany asked softly. "What if the Yeerks have taken over the majority of the planet by then, and they eliminate the rest? The Yeerks don't keep what they have no use for, and with their superior technology, humans don't stand much of a chance."

I shrugged, letting my grin turn teasing as I pushed Brittany down onto her back, crawling on top of her. "Then you and I will leave Earth," I said playfully, and Brittany giggled. "We'll travel to some place the Yeerks have never even _heard_ of." I kissed her cheek. "We'll hang out," I kissed her nose, "have lots of sex," I kissed her chin, "and not have any cares at all." I let my lips find hers, and Brittany sighed against my mouth, wrapping her arms around my neck.

After a while I pulled back and then shifted lower, placing my palms flat on Brittany's chest to rest my chin on them so I could just lie there and look at her.

Her eyes softened, making me melt inside. She was so beautiful. "What?" she murmured.

A smile overtook my face, and she smiled in response, and we just stared at each other for a long, silent moment before she sighed again.

"I have to transform," she said, regretfully. I nodded- but I couldn't chase the tiny feeling of resentment away that came from the fact that, as long as this war continued, I would always have to deal with the time limit. I would only be able to have Brittany for two hours at a time, and then reality would sink in.

Two hours was never enough time.

* * *

"That was a fucking disaster," I spat, once we were all gathered in our usual meeting spot in the _Batcave_. I mean, might as well get the discussion going, because I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

"I have to agree, it failed pretty miserably," Blaine confirmed with a nod.

"It was a bad plan," Sam admitted. "But at least we made it out."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Barely."

"Look, I get that we fucked up," Puck admonished. "But we'll do better next time."

"Yeah, we _will_- because there won't be a next time," I snapped.

Puck glared at me. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying Brittany almost fucking got _killed_, you _asshole_!" I hissed. "I'm not risking her life to save _Rachel_, of all people."

"We tried," Kurt agreed with a dismissive shrug.

"And failed," I chimed in.

"We _barely_ tried," Puck corrected angrily.

"Oh, that was barely trying? Well _excuse_ me, sorry, I guess Brittany _wasn't_ almost shredded to pieces, because we were only _barely trying_."

"She _wasn't_ shredded to pieces, though," Puck argued. "I saved her."

"Will someone just make you a fucking commemorative plaque already?" I said viciously, throwing up my hands.

"Look, Brittany's not dead, and neither are we. I think we should try again. And since _I'm_ the one who risked my ass, I think I deserve that much."

I stood up suddenly. "What the fuck did you just say?" I growled, lowering my voice from _angry_ to _deadly_. I stabbed my finger at Puck. "Is that the only reason you saved her? So you could fucking convince us to execute another stupid, suicidal plan to rescue Yentl from the Yeerks' clutches?"

Puck looked shocked and offended, his mouth dropping open. He glared at me, shaking his head in disgust. "News flash, Satan- you're not the only one who gives a fuck about Brittany."

"That's right," Mercedes added quietly.

"We all care about her, Santana," Quinn agreed.

"I'm not questioning _that_," I snapped.

"Then what the fuck _are_ you questioning?" Puck demanded. "Because I seem to recall that _I_ was Brittany's friend while _you_ were dicking her around-"

I cringed inside at his words, but I was angry, and that was my primary emotion as I countered, "Only because _you_ wanted to _literally_ dick her around."

"_Fuck_ you, Santana," Puck said, shaking his head. "I can't believe you think so little of me."

"Well-"

"All right, that's _enough_," Sam said angrily. "We're not fighting about this."

"Too late," Arty muttered.

Sam sighed in frustration, then took a deep breath. "We will make _one last attempt_ to free Rachel. But, Puck- if it goes bad again, we are not risking ourselves with a third attempt. The Yeerks are already on to us, they already know we want to free her- that makes her valuable to them, and puts us in an even more vulnerable position. We can't keep wasting time, because sooner or later, like it or not, one of us _will_ end up dead."

"Fair enough," Puck acquiesced with a firm nod.

"Damn right it is," Sam said with a weak smile. He looked at me, and I shook my head, averting my eyes to the carpet beneath my feet. "Uh- get some rest. We will come up with a plan tomorrow."

"Maybe the Yeerks will forget we want her if we leave it for a few days," Blaine offered brightly.

"Yeah, not likely," Quinn sighed.

* * *

"San?"

I shook my head quickly, trying to escape my thoughts. They were racing in my head, and my heart was pounding. I looked up suddenly into Brittany's eyes, and she gasped at my terrified look.

"She got out again, didn't she?" I whispered.

Brittany's eyes softened, and she frowned. "Santana-"

I shook my head again, feeling hot tears springing to my eyes. I'd been doing so good, but-

Brittany's warm palm on my cheek brought me crashing to the present, and she pulled me to her, wrapping me up in her arms tightly. I slid my arms around her back and held her close, burying my face into her neck.

"I'm sorry," I whispered against her neck.

She sighed. "Don't apologize."

"But _she_ got out- I lost control and she got out again, and-"

"Santana, _she _is_ you_. She's part of you. You can't apologize for something that's a part of you."

I tried to swallow my tears, swallow the overwhelming emotions that were trying to surface. "But I'm so scared that I'm going to become her completely."

"That will never happen," Brittany reassured gently.

"How do you know?"

"Because Santana is inside you, too. You're _both_ of them- and just because Snix surfaced for a moment, doesn't mean she's going to conquer you and go on a rampage," Brittany chuckled, and I felt a small smile come to my lips. "You're balanced, and you needed her to show up- you needed to express your anger, and that's what she's for, right? Everyone has anger."

I nodded, absorbing her words, trying to believe them. I buried my face in her neck and held her tighter. "You're a genius, Brittany."

Brittany squeezed me briefly. "Duh."

* * *

It was Friday night. We'd spent most of the rest of the week planning for the mission- Rachel's Yeerk had been placed in charge of the New Directions high school chapter, and that meant championing the Friday night meetings; this week it was at the bowling alley. So we knew that's where we would find her.

I complained the whole time, of course. Friday nights were supposed to be fun. One might even say that Friday nights were great for _dates_. But I wouldn't know anything about that, because I rarely got to spend my Friday nights doing couple-y things with Brittany.

Yeah, I was pretty bitter about it.

We were split into teams. Brittany, Puck, Kurt and I were at the bowling alley, looking for Rachel. Sam, Mercedes, Blaine, Arty and Quinn were waiting at Rachel's house. Brittany was a human, walking her dog, Fido- Puck. They were stalking Rachel on the ground. Kurt and I were birds on air surveillance. When we spotted Rachel leaving, Kurt was supposed to head directly to Sam and the others to give them the heads up, and I got stuck with the honor of tailing Rachel as she meandered home. Brittany and Puck would catch up after. When Rachel reached her house, Sam and the others would scoop her and we'd all be on our merry way to the _Batcave_.

That was the plan, anyways. It was a little crazy, I admit, but it seemed better than "walk into a nest of Controllers to confront her in the school parking lot in daylight in plain sight." Ya feels me?

So far, nothing exciting had happened. It was a lot of waiting around. I was perched on a streetlight- it was just starting to get dark out, but I could see Brittany, looking flawless as she tried to get the hang of walking a dog. Puck would pull on the leash and she would let go and then watch him walk a few feet. Once he realized Brittany dropped the leash, he'd turn around and coach her into picking it up. It was amusing, but gave me too many feelings about my future with Brittany and taking dogs for walks and since when did I get so fucking domestic?

I internally berated myself for being cheesy, and instead let my thoughts drift to imagining how cute it would be to take Brittany bowling. She would definitely be confused and she'd probably choose the most psychedelic-colored bowling ball, and we'd get pizza and change our names to something silly on the scoreboard every few turns, and-

_[Are you all right?]_ Kurt asked suddenly and I snapped out of my fantasy.

_[What? Why are you asking me that?]_

_[Well, you were- _giggling_. I think? I'm not sure what it was, but-]_

Oh, fuck. Was that out loud? _[You must've been hearing things. I've been completely quiet over here.]_

_[No, I definitely heard someth-]_

_[Okay, shut up,] _I growled, embarrassed. _[I think I _actually_ hear something.]_

It was a total lie, but it made him shut up and strain to hear.

The moments dragged on, and still nothing happened. Finally, I sighed. _[Britt, Puck- you guys should probably get out of there for a minute. Your time in that form is almost up.]_

_[Got it,] _Puck said, lowering his nose to the ground and wagging his tail. He tugged on Brittany's leash, and this time, she followed him, beaming with pride at having gotten the hang of it. If I could've smiled, I probably would have.

God, I was so fucking done.

_[Guys, I see Rachel!]_ Kurt called. _[She's leaving from the side door. There's a Hummer waiting for her.]_

_[Okay, stay on her until I get there!]_ I called. _[B, Puck- transform quickly, we've got to-]_

"AAAAHHH!"

"YAAAH!"

"WHAT IS THAT THING?!"

"HELP!"

_[Oh, shit- Santana, we've got trouble!] _Kurt yelled tensely.

_[What's going on?]_ I demanded, my panic turning to anger. Shit, shit, shit. I flapped hard to get around to where Kurt was so I could see what was happening. All the while, people were screaming and running in the opposite direction of where I was flying.

_[Those rogue Andalites just showed up!]_

_Oh, shit._

_[Britt, Puck-]_

_[On it!]_ Puck yelled, and I spied him running around towards where I was going.

_[_No_, you idiot, you need to _change_-]_

**KA-BOOOOM!**

A sudden explosion erupted from inside the bowling alley. The entire building rattled, and the shockwave from the explosion made me teeter in the air. I swooped higher, trying to see what was going on, but it was dark, and my eyes weren't much better than a human's at night.

_[Kurt, get Sam! Don't argue! Just go!]_

_[Got it!]_

_[Puck- get the_ fuck out _of there!]_

_[But Rachel!]_ he protested, and I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration- that is, if I'd had hair to tear out, and hands to tear it out with at that moment.

**KA-BOOOOM! **

_[They really need to stop fucking doing that!]_ I raged as another explosion rocked the building, and this time, part of it collapsed on itself. People continued screaming and fleeing from it, and I could see flames coming from inside. I spotted Rachel in the chaos, running to the Hummer- and Puck, still Fido, right on her heels.

I saw people running towards the building- obviously Controllers, because they were toting Dracon beams, and let's be honest, what person who isn't controlled by aliens would run towards a pack of other aliens inside a collapsing building?

Right.

I tried to think of what to do. We could still just turn around and leave, we didn't have to get tangled up with these rogue Andalites, or the Yeerks, or a fucking collapsing building-

TSEEEW!

_[Aaah!]_ Puck cried. I scanned the ground for him. He had placed himself between Rachel and the Hummer, and he was growling, snapping at Rachel's ankles, trying to prevent her from getting into the vehicle. The Controller behind the wheel was taking shots at him through the window. What the actual fuck was going on?

_[Puck, are you fucking insane? What are you doing?]_

_[I can't let her leave,]_ Puck said desperately. _[If she leaves, we'll never get her again, the Yeerks know we're on to them-]_

_[It's not like we don't know where she lives!] _I grated. _[We can try again-]_

_ [No, we can't! You heard Sam- it's now or never, and-] _

TSEEEW!

-he got cut off as another Dracon beam hit him and he let out a loud _YIPE! _as a burn hole appeared in his ribs.

_[Puck! You're going to die! You need to run, forget Rachel-]_

TSEEEW!

Puck dodged to the left, avoiding getting hit with another Dracon beam, then immediately lunged right to cut off Rachel's attempted escape. _[Santana, help me! Send Brittany-]_

I froze. No. _No_. Puck was about to get captured, or worse, _killed_- I wasn't going to send Brittany into a suicidal mission, what was he _thinking_?

_[No, you're going to get killed; fucking _run_-]_

_[Not if you come down here and help me get her-]_

_[God DAMMIT, Puck, AND DO WHAT WITH HER?] _I screamed in frustration. _[I can't drag her away as a fucking cheetah! We need Sam-]_

_[We don't have time to wait for him-]_

TSEEEW!

_[Aaah!]_

_[Puck!]_

I scanned him frantically for damage- his left hind paw was smoking, and he stood balanced on three legs, hopping awkwardly. I watched, anxious, praying for Sam to get there, wracking my brain for what to do- what could I do? I couldn't send Brittany in- I wouldn't. That would be crazy. And I was no good in the dark, I could barely see, so swooping in on them wasn't going to help, either. Fuck, fuck, fuck-

And then Rachel made a sudden dash for it- but not for the Hummer.

She ran back into the building behind her.

"GrrrOWWR!" Puck snarled as he lunged after her, running hobbled on his hurt leg.

_[Puck, NO!]_ I yelled as I watched him disappear into the building.

A flash of lavender appeared and Brittany snapped her tail, dismembering the Controller in the Hummer- he no longer had a Dracon beam, or a hand. She moved towards the building and I felt panic overtaking me.

_[Britt, don't,]_ I begged, feeling my heart pounding. She couldn't go in there, _she_ _couldn't go in there_-

_[I have to, Santana- I owe Puck my life,]_ Brittany said, and my heart broke at how noble she sounded, at what a good friend she was, but, _no_-

_[You owe _me_ your life,]_ I said desperately, frantic. _[You owe it to me not to die, Brittany, _please_, you _can't_-]_

_[What's going on?]_ Sam shouted as he swooped up near me, and I'd never been so relieved to see him.

_[Rachel ran inside, Puck followed,]_ I said quickly. _[The rogue Andalites blew up the building, and the whole fucking place is about to collapse.]_

_[Shit,]_ Quinn said.

_[Shit,]_ Blaine agreed,

_[Okay,]_ Sam said tightly. _[We can't let Puck get captured, under any circumstances. We go in and get him. Volunteers?]_

_[I'll go,]_ Quinn said immediately.

_[Me, too,]_ I answered automatically, fully aware of what a total hypocrite I was. I had made Brittany stay outside- probably condemning Puck to death or capture or both in the process- and now here I was, about to rush inside a building that was getting more dangerous by the second.

_[I'll go, too,]_ Sam said. _[To carry Rachel out.] _I couldn't believe he was still thinking about Rachel at a time like this, but he continued,_ [We hit the ground, transform, avatars, go in. Got it?]_ Quinn and I didn't answer, only dropped to the pavement, landing quickly and transforming as rapidly as possible. My thoughts raced as Sam gave rushed instructions to the others about what to do if they saw Puck being smuggled out of the building.

_He must not be captured alive under any circumstances._

I swallowed, and hoped that, whatever happened, the situation didn't come to that.

I focused on the bull DNA inside me. I needed something that could power its way out of the building if it continued to collapse, and though my cheetah was fast, it wouldn't hold up very well inside.

Once fully bull, I struggled to control the panic the bull mind associated with the loud noises and fire, and followed Sam the Gorilla and the Lion Quinn into the building. It was smoky, but thanks to the roof partially collapsing, most of the smoke was exiting through the hole. Most of the lights had gone out, but some of them still flickered and sparked. I could make out the crisscrossing of red Dracon fire on the far end, by the Employee Door, so I knew that the Yeerks were battling _someone_.

As we got closer, I could just barely see the outlines of three Andalites fighting a slew of human Controllers and, to my surprise, Hork-Bajir. _[Puck?]_ I called. _[Where are you?]_

_[By the pool tables!]_ he answered, and the three of us turned to the Game Room.

TSEEEW!

I halted as a Dracon beam burned up the thin-ass carpet in front of my hooves, and looked up. Who I saw nearly made me collapse to the floor.

It was Sue- obviously Visser Seven had returned to her after Puck had escaped- flanked by none other than Finn.

Finn.

He was alive. I was partially relieved and also completely pissed. I'd hoped I'd never run into him again, but yet, there he was, his wretched disgusting self standing before me like the Jolly Green Giant. His face was twisted into an expression of rage and hatred, and he leveled his Dracon beam at the three of us.

"So much for that easy assignment," Sue chuckled, and Finn's eyes narrowed even further.

"Allow me the honor, Visser, _please_," Finn hissed through his clenched teeth, and Sue turned and smacked him brutally across the face.

"Don't be a moron," Sue said coldly. "These puny humans are mine."

_[Who are you calling puny?]_ I challenged, standing tall and tilting my horns towards her in a threatening manner. Sam puffed out his chest and Quinn opened her mouth to reveal long, gleaming fangs. Our bravado hid our fear at the fact that we were probably severely outnumbered.

Sue just smiled icily at us, and I felt a shiver of dread run down my bull spine. She waved her hand, and a Controller on her other side placed a device in it.

_[Draser!] _Sam yelled, and I was about to hit the deck when a loud snarl rang through the air and shit hit the fan.

Puck's mouth chomped down on Sue's hand, and she screamed, dropping the Draser to the ground. Puck slid in next to us, growling, and Sue clutched her now-bloody hand to her chest, glaring.

_[Hey, Visser,]_ Puck greeted cheerfully. _[How ya been?]_

"Missing your body," Sue answered sweetly, which belied the expression of rage on her face.

_[Wanky,]_ I muttered, feeling antsy.

_[Where's Rachel?]_ Sam asked privately.

_[For fuck's sake, is _now_ really the time?]_

_[It's what we came here for,]_ Puck snapped, his tail swishing angrily. _[She's cowering behind the concession stand.]_

_[Got her,]_ Quinn answered.

_[All right then, on the next word Visser Seven says, we charge-]_

"Noah, why don't you-"

We were a blur of motion. I hit Finn, sending him flying backwards into a table, which collapsed under his weight. Sam plowed into Sue, who hit the ground and screamed, "Get them, you morons!"

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

Dracon fire erupted _everywhere_. And it seemed like a lot more of it than-

_[The other Andalites are leaving!]_ Kurt called from somewhere outside. _[They're making a run for the woods!]_

Fuck. That meant all the Controllers who were engaged with them were now suddenly free to take us on-

_[Kurt! We need help in here! Send Brittany and Blaine!]_

_No_, I thought, but pushed the thought aside. Was I being selfish keeping Brittany out of the fight? We would all die if we didn't get some help, and Brittany was the most skilled out of all of us.

A lion's roar made the short hair on the back of my neck stand on end as I gouged through a line of Controllers, taking heavy fire and inhaling the smell of my own skin sizzling and melting. I bellowed in pain but pushed it to the back of my mind. Faintly I heard Sam yelling, _[Get Rachel! Find Rachel!]_ and I focused on that. If I got Rachel, we could leave, we could escape. I had to find Rachel. Had to-

I smashed into the concession stand, ripping it up. The metal oven that the hot dogs rotated on went clattering to the ground. Bags of popcorn sprayed everywhere. A soda line broke and carbonated syrup oozed out onto the floor and I slid through it as I forced my way behind the concession stand. When I finally got there, I froze at what I saw.

Rachel was crouched on the ground next to Quinn at an awkward angle, holding a Draser in her hand. Quinn was sprawled out on her side, incapacitated. Rachel had her head pressed to Quinn's, and I watched in horrified fascination for a moment before I realized what was going on.

Rachel's Yeerk was trying to transfer to Quinn's body.

_[No!]_ I screamed. I snorted and charged, but the little aisle behind the concession counter was too narrow for me to squeeze my muscular bull body through. I struggled, ramming my shoulder into the counter, trying to make it budge. Come on, come on-

_[Quinn, wake up! Get up! QUINN!]_ I struggled harder, my eyes glued to the sliver of space between Rachel's pink human ear and Quinn's pointed lion one.

And then, something crazy happened. Rachel's face, which had been sporting an evil smirk, began to change into an expression of horror and disgust- the real Rachel must've been gaining control of her body as the Yeerk left her.

Rachel frowned deeply, and then she must've gotten control of her arm back, because she pulled away from Quinn suddenly, but not enough to prevent the Yeerk from leaving her completely for Quinn. However, my prayers must've been answered, because the Yeerk seemed to be having trouble entering Quinn's ear, and faster than I could blink, Rachel snatched at the opening and managed to grasp the slimy, wriggling Yeerk in her fingers.

My mouth literally dropped open.

I mean, it made sense- the Yeerk was stupid to try and enter Quinn's body when she'd been _Drasered_. I remembered the lasting effects of the Draser on my own body, and how it took a while before my electrons or whatever started working properly again. Connecting to the brain was all about the electricity in your body, wasn't it? So of course the Yeerk couldn't connect- Quinn's power switch was on _hibernate_ or something.

Rachel stood shakily to her feet, clutching her Yeerk in her hand, and I got a good look at her- her other arm was covered in blood, and the left side of her face was also smeared with it. She must've been hit with some debris or something, because her clothes were dusty and tattered, too. Not that that wasn't a small victory for fashion-

_Focus, Santana._

Rachel glared down at the Yeerk in her fist, and then, after taking a shaky breath, she flung it to the floor, and I watched as she stomped her foot on it. Then- she lost it. She stomped it again, and again, and again, viciously, letting out a scream of rage. It was a little unsettling, and I wondered if Quinn had been right in her assessment that Rachel was a lot more ruthless than anyone gave her credit for-

Shit, _Quinn_-

How the fuck were we going to get her out? She was a male lion that weighed- well, way more than any of _us_ could carry, except maybe Sam. I was still hyper aware of the sound of Dracon beams firing in the distance- which was good, because it meant the others were still alive. But I could also hear the creaking and moaning of the ceiling about to collapse. Plus, Kurt was yelling out random updates that I was mostly tuning out to focus on the present situation, but the tone of his voice did not sound relaxing.

_[Listen, Rachel- We've gotta get the fuck out of here,]_ I said.

Rachel looked at me and nodded, tucking some of her brown hair behind her ear, incredulously, because- she had way more serious things to worry about than how her hair looked. And the rest of it looked awful, anyways. "Understandable." She bent to pick up the Draser, and I felt a surge of fear. Not that I didn't trust her, but- okay, I didn't fucking trust her.

_[Can you stay here with Quinn?]_ I asked. _[I've gotta get Sam to carry her out.]_

"That won't be necessary," Rachel said with a shake of her head. She moved next to Quinn, fiddled with the Draser, and pressed it to the lion's neck. Before I could demand what she was doing, she pulled the trigger, and a loud _click _sounded, and then Quinn was startled awake.

_[Ah! What the hell! Santana- get her!]_ Quinn said, climbing dizzily to her feet. She wobbled and tripped slightly.

_[Go home, Quinn, you're drunk,]_ I snapped_. [Rachel's not a Controller anymore, but we are all going to be dead if we don't get out of here.]_

_[Got it,]_ Quinn said faintly. _[Lead the way.]_

Easier said than done, but I charged out of the little concession corner and into the wide open area of the alley. I was met with several Hork-Bajir who were screaming for my death- you know, the usual- and Quinn and I made short work of them. I kept my eye out for Brittany- after all, Sam had called her in as a reinforcement, and I felt anxiety creeping up on me at the thought of her being inside the fucking madhouse we were in.

_[Sam, Puck! We've got Rachel!]_ Quinn called_. [We need to retreat!]_

_[Everyone, get out!]_ Sam yelled. _[We have what we came for!]_

_[Brittany!]_ I yelled. _[Brittany- where are you?]_

_[By the exit, San,]_ Brittany answered, sounding faint. But at least she was alive. I felt relief wash over me. Now we just had to make it to the exit.

I managed to take three steps before shit got in my way again.

"Going somewhere?" Finn taunted, and before I could answer, he fired his Dracon beam at me, and I twisted to avoid a full-on hit to my face. Instead, the beam grazed the right side of my head, and I gritted my teeth against the agony of the burning sensation. My right eye was blinded, and I was choking on the smell of my burned skin. Ugh. Gross. Finn was already looking pretty beat up- he had a cut on his temple that was bleeding profusely down the side of his face and neck, soaking into his shirt.

He aimed his weapon again and I flinched, preparing for the hit, but it never came- instead, I looked up to find his arm shaking, his face pale. I followed his gaze and spied Rachel.

"Fretth Three-Nine-Seven?" Finn whispered.

"No," Rachel said, a lot gentler than I thought she could ever be. I was completely confused- dafuq was going on?

"What are you doing?" Visser Seven demanded suddenly from about three yards away, and I snapped to look at her. Sue was cowering behind a table, gesturing wildly. "Kill her! Do it, fool! Don't let her escape!"

Finn's arm trembled. "Visser, I-"

"Fine- _coward_!" She turned and screamed at a nearby Hork-Bajir. "Assan Five-Two-Five! _Kill that host_!"

The Hork-Bajir obediently raised his arm, took aim, and before I could even _react_-

TSEEEW!

I felt like everything slowed down as I watched Rachel drop to the ground. I heard Finn screaming, I heard Quinn's lion roaring nearby (engaged in a fight with two Hork-Bajir); I heard Sue cheering and I heard the sound of the ceiling- _about to collapse._

"Rachel!" Finn wailed. "Oh, God- Rachel!"

"Get up, Eston One-Four-Nine!" Sue demanded. "Control your host, or Assan Five-Two-Five will let you join its mate."

Finn shook, and I could tell the Yeerk was battling the real Finn. I felt sorry for him for a fraction of a second, and my eyes shifted to Rachel's prone, lifeless body and her wide, unblinking eyes-

I turned away quickly, ignoring Sue's shouts. Dracon fire followed me as I charged next to Quinn. _[Time to go!]_ I yelled, and she wordlessly fell into step beside me as huge, burning chunks of the ceiling began to rain down on us. We fought our way to the exit, narrowly avoiding being crushed by debris several times. It all passed by in a daze. My mind was still struggling to catch up, to process everything that had just happened. Rachel-

_[Where's Rachel?]_ Puck demanded as we reached the exit.

_[She's-] _Quinn started, but she couldn't finish, and I saw the realization flash in Puck's dog eyes.

He made to bolt back inside but Sam grabbed him, wrapping his massive arms around Puck.

_[No, dude- it's done,]_ he said firmly, but not without compassion as he carried a struggling Puck across the pavement, heading for the tree line. We all followed in a quiet, disbelieving daze.

I shook my head slowly. All that- all that struggle, and Rachel was still-

Once we were deep in the shadows and were sure we weren't being pursued by Controllers, we began to shift back to our normal selves. I took a deep breath, my eyes finding Brittany's. She looked weary, and I can't imagine my face looked any better. I hoped she wasn't mad at me. I'd have to talk to her about it later- I didn't regret it- after all, she was alive, Puck was alive-

My eyes fell to Puck, who was still on all fours. Still Fido.

And my stomach dropped.

* * *

**D:**

**OH MAN. **

**Well, review, if any of you are alive out there, to tell me how upset you are about Rachel. Or not. It's okay to be both. **

**Sorry again for the delay; next chapter (hopefully next week, lol) we will find out who those mysterious Andalites are… and maybe something else…**

**Also, I think I'm gonna throw a contest- spot all of my Glee character references and you win…. A fic? LOL I don't know. I honestly don't think anyone will catch ALL of my references. But- challenge submitted, eh?**

**Thanks for reading! See you next time, pals! :D**


	34. Rules of Engagement

**O HAI DOGGIE.**

**Well, here's the next chapter. What can I say? Still not giving up on Brittana. **

**This chapter and the next chapter were actually supposed to be one chapter, but then I was like "O SNAP" because I had already written too many words (story of my life, tbh) so I decided to just go ahead and give you guys a lil' something instead of making you wait even longer. **

**Anyways! Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, favorited, ignored, or whatever'd the last chapter. You're all special snowflakes to me!**

**Happy reading! 8)**

* * *

"Puck. Transform," I snapped. "We've gotta get moving before the Yeerks come looking for us."

_ [I can't.]_

I glared. "What the fuck are you saying? Yes, you _can_- now, hurry!"

"Please, Noah," Quinn pleaded. "We need to get out of here."

_[I'm saying I can't. I've been trying this whole time,]_ Puck said, sounding angry and desperate all at once. He snapped his gaze to Brittany, who had a dark, unreadable expression on her face. I didn't know what any of it meant, I was still trying to process that Rachel was-

A choked sob broke the tension, and I looked over at Mercedes, who was crying silently. Sam was rubbing a soothing hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her, and I frowned. Kurt was shaking his head sadly, and Blaine's eyes were misty, though I'm not sure why- he didn't really know Rachel. I guess he was just an emotional guy.

"Poor Rachel," Mercedes mumbled through her tears, and I ignored her sobbing- I couldn't deal with that right now, we were still in danger. I turned my attention back to Puck.

"If this is a joke, it's not funny- we don't have time for this!"

_ [It's not a joke! I'm trapped, Santana.]_

"No," I said firmly. He couldn't be, could he? That much time hadn't passed, had it? He still had- "You just need to try harder. Think of your-"

_[Don't you think I tried that?]_ Puck asked angrily_. [It's fucking done. I ran out of time. This is who I am from now on. But if we need to leave, then let's leave.]_

I shook my head, still trying to grasp what Puck had said. So he was now a dog forever? I looked at Brittany, who still had a stony expression on her face. Unreadable. I looked at Quinn, who had her face turned away and her eyes averted to the ground, biting her lip, looking like she was trying not to cry. I swallowed.

It was tense. I didn't know what to say- no one did. What should I tell Puck? Sorry you got trapped as a dog because you rushed in to save a girl who got killed anyways? I felt guilty for a moment- if I had sent Brittany in when Puck had asked, would we have gotten Rachel out? Would Puck still have been trapped?

Was this all somehow my fault?

I shook my head again, trying to clear it. I didn't have time for any of those thoughts right now. We _did_ need to relocate- the Yeerks would regroup and probably come looking for us soon. I could hear sirens in the distance, and still smell the smoke from the burning building close by.

"Okay, then." I looked at Sam. He met my eyes.

"Let's go," he said softly, wearing a defeated expression. Puck took off without a word, and I realized with a sinking feeling that he couldn't just transform to bird- he would have to make the journey back to the Motta Mansion on foot. That sucked. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, preparing to transform to my kite.

A sharp gasp broke my concentration, and I re-opened my eyes to look around wildly. My gaze fell to Sam, who had a very large tailblade pressed to his throat. And that tailblade was connected to one of the male rogue Andalites that had been causing us trouble lately. He was huge and muscled, and the darkest shade of blue I'd seen yet on an Andalite- you know, because I'd met _so many_ of them.

_[Don't leave yet,]_ came a smooth thought-speak voice, and another male Andalite moved into view- this one was not as large, but still pretty intimidating, and I could almost feel the confidence and arrogance pouring off of him. The third Andalite, a female who was a much darker shade of lavender than Brittany, stepped out from behind a tree, training a Shredder on Kurt, and I felt a rush of fear travel through me. We'd been so busy worrying about the Yeerks, we hadn't even thought of the Andalites; we were cornered.

Shit.

* * *

The arrogant Andalite scanned each of us briefly, obviously deciding we were not threats, and then his gaze landed on Brittany, and all four of his eyes lit up with delight. He seemed surprised.

And pleased.

_Too_ pleased. My stomach squirmed.

_[Britta-Nysp-Ierce,]_ he greeted charmingly and with far too much enthusiasm for my liking; he invaded Brittany's personal space with zero respect. Brittany shifted her weight- she was annoyed- and the male Andalite reached up boldly and stroked his slender fingers down her cheek while I fumed. I knew what that gesture meant- Brittany had told me it was the equivalent of an Andalite _kiss_. I was about two seconds away from lunging forward and ripping his throat out, Andalite or not.

Brittany turned her face away from his hand, wincing and looking extremely uncomfortable, and what little control of my anger I had flew out the window.

"Excuse me- _who the fuck are you_?" I hissed. Brittany gave me a pleading look but I didn't take my eyes from the Andalite intruding on what was _mine_. Who did this guy think he was? Kissing Brittany like that? What was going on?

The male Andalite looked shocked that I had addressed him, and he was still standing too close to Brittany, who leaned as far away from him as possible. He narrowed his eyes at me, regarding me like I was some non-sentient life form, and I wondered if every Andalite we encountered, barring Brittany and Willi, would look at us humans like we were _nothing_, like we were a waste of their precious time. I mean, I'm sure they resented having to save a bunch of alien races, but still- Brittany didn't. Then again, not everyone was like Brittany. Actually, _no one_ was like Brittany-

_[The more important question here is: who are _you_, and why do you possess the transforming power?]_ Cocky Andalite sneered, turning a stalk eye to Brittany in question.

I opened my mouth to argue but Sam cut me off. "We were given the transforming power by an Andalite," he said. "To fight against the Yeerks. And that's what we do."

Cocky didn't seem interested in Sam's answer at all, and instead he focused his attention back to Brittany. It was really starting to piss me off. Well, okay, I was _already_ pissed off about it. But I was reaching Snix-level of anger, which you should know by now is _not_ a good place to be.

_[Britta-Nysp-Ierce, why are you with these humans?]_ Cocky the Andalite demanded.

Brittany looked away, uncomfortable under the Andalite's scrutiny, and I watched on, angry and confused at their interaction. The rest of the _Transformers_ looked uncomfortable- Sam still had a tailblade pressed to his throat and Kurt still had a Shredder pointed at him. All they could do was fidget and watch the conversation unfold. _[They're my friends,]_ Brittany admitted in a tiny voice, her expression bordering on embarrassment and something else that I couldn't quite place. Shame? Regret? It made my chest hurt. Was she ashamed of us?

The male Andalite gave Brittany a pitying, condescending look, and he gripped her shoulder in a gesture of affection to reassure her, but Brittany didn't look reassured at all_. [I understand. You have been away from your own people for a long time- you must have been quite lonely, and sought solace with these humans. But now you can be with your own kind again.]_

Brittany looked like she wanted to answer, but I had heard about enough, and to be honest, I was tired of fighting my natural reaction to unleash Snix.

"Don't fucking _talk_ to her like that!" I exploded, balling my hands up into fists. I was getting really tired of Andalites treating Brittany like shit.

Brittany shot me an alarmed look. _[San-]_

_ [Excuse you? Like what?]_ Cocky Andalite countered, finally turning his attention from Brittany and focusing on me.

"Like she's beneath you, like she's _stupid_ or-"

_[Santana,]_ Brittany said desperately, her tone pleading. She moved closer to me, ignoring the other Andalite, and reached up to cup my face. Her soft hands were warm, and she forced me to look up at her, forced our gazes to lock. _[Don't. Please.]_

I huffed. "But-"

_[_Please_. For me.]_

I took a slow, shaky breath and gave a curt nod. I would do anything Brittany asked, regardless- but she must've had her reasons for keeping me from confronting the Andalite. And I trusted her.

"We've told you who we are," Sam said bravely, and I looked past Brittany to where Sam was standing tall, even though he could be decapitated at any second. "Now who are _you_?"

I snapped my gaze to the arrogant asshole Andalite, who hadn't taken his eyes from Brittany- _god_, did that _bother_ me- and he waved his hand at the other two Andalites, who immediately lowered their weapons.

_[I am Prince Gesii-Saynt-Djaims, of the great Dome Ship, _Azimio_,]_ he said_. [And these are my servants-]_ he waved at the other male Andalite standing next to Sam, who blinked at the introduction, _[Defense Specialist Shain-Eshad-Onza,]_ then he gestured to the female, who looked utterly bored, _[and Arms Master Affay-Shia-Neel.]_

"Servants?" I muttered under my breath. Was this guy for real?

_[Every warrior must serve a Prince,]_ Brittany said privately to me. _[Though Gesii lets it go to his head.]_ She rolled her eyes. I shook my head in disbelief, and wondered- who was Brittany's Prince? Was it Willi-What's-His-Face? Was it _this_ motherfucker? I cringed at the thought, and at the fact that Brittany had shortened Gesii's name- which meant she was _very_ familiar with him. I didn't like that at all.

_[Sam would be my Prince,]_ Brittany said helpfully, as if reading my mind, and I cringed again. _Sam_? Brittany shrugged, looking sheepish. _[He's the leader, so technically I would serve under his direction.]_ She shifted closer to me. _[But I've never really taken all that Prince stuff seriously,]_ she said conspiratorially, as if she was admitting to me some huge secret. I couldn't help but smile slightly at her, even though I couldn't stop glaring at _Prince Gesii_ out of the corner of my eye.

"How did you find us?" Blaine asked curiously, and Gesii laughed in our heads. It was pretentious and arrogant, and it grated on my nerves.

_[You humans are anything but subtle,]_ he said, sounding almost like he was mocking us. _[I'm actually surprised you've managed to evade the Yeerks for as long as you supposedly have.]_

"And what's your story?" Mercedes asked gently, trying to be open and non-offensive- and that was all right, because I'd be plenty offensive on her behalf. "You've obviously been on Earth for a while- the _Azimio_ was destroyed months ago. Where have you been staying?"

Gesii's eyes tightened and he looked angry that Mercedes dared to mention his destroyed Dome Ship, but he answered_. [There was a great space battle,]_ he began, and I tried not to roll my eyes at his boasting tone.

Here we go.

_[I was piloting my fighter, the _Carmel_, taking out as many of the Yeerk Bug Fighters as I could. When the battle reached its climax, I had managed to cripple or destroy at least a dozen of them, maybe more- I wasn't counting or anything, of course,]_ he bragged.

"Of course," Quinn mumbled. Gesii didn't seem to understand her sarcasm. He looked at Brittany, as if trying to win her over with his story. It was making my stomach clench tighter and tighter and I really wanted to know what this Andalite was to her.

_[Unfortunately, the Yeerks have found a way to cloak themselves from our sensors- I'm unsure as to how. They've obviously stolen some kind of Andalite technology and modified it.]_

"Obviously," Quinn mumbled again.

Gesii smiled an extremely arrogant Andalite smile at Brittany, as if pleased that Quinn was supporting his story; as if he was trying to say, "Look! Your little human friends think I'm the greatest!" Brittany gave him nothing, and he continued his story. _[A heavily-armed Blade Ship emerged from Z-space and, sufficiently cloaked from our sensors, snuck up behind us. We detached the Dome to maneuver around, but the Dracon fire from the Blade Ship crippled our Z-space thrusters, meaning we could not escape.]_

I sighed heavily, wondering when this douche was going to get to the point of his story- I mean, we _got_ it already- obviously the ship was destroyed. He _could_ answer Mercedes' question, which was what he'd been doing since then. I looked at the others- Arty was completely engrossed in Gesii's story. I tried to withhold my look of disgust.

_[The Azimio entered self-destruct mode, rather than be captured. The waves from the explosion damaged my fighter, and I was sucked in by the gravity of this planet. I managed to guide my ship to this area, where my sensors had picked up the most Yeerk activity. It wasn't long after I settled that I found my comrades.] _I glanced at the two other Andalites, who remained silent. The female, Affay or whatever, looked completely uninterested in anything happening. She seemed like she didn't buy Gesii's story for a second, but had no choice but to follow him or be on her own. The other male, Shain, had a vacant, stupid expression on his face. He was obviously not the most gifted in the brains department.

_[Have you been in touch with the Fleet?]_ Brittany asked.

_[Yes,]_ Gesii said carefully, shifting closer to Brittany, as if telling her a secret. It was silent for a moment, but by Brittany's facial expression I could tell that Gesii was communicating to her privately.

_[So the Fleet is on its way?]_ Brittany clarified openly, and I watched as Sam and the others' faces lit up.

"Good news!" Sam stated, but Gesii ignored him. He trailed fingertips down Brittany's arm, and I watched her shudder faintly in response. I felt my throat tighten. I clenched my fists, willing myself to calm down, to not attack Gesii, since Brittany had requested it. But fuck, it was hard. I'd only ever been up against the likes of Rory, Puck and Arty when it came to winning Brittany over, but here was some bigshot Andalite Prince whose intentions were completely obvious, and he and Brittany had some kind of relationship, some kind of _history_. My mouth felt bitter. Had Brittany been in a relationship before she came to Earth? I had never thought to even ask-

_[Gesii, please,]_ Brittany mumbled, averting her eyes and turning away. Gesii responded privately, so I could only hear Brittany's responses_. [I won't.]_

It was silent as Gesii said something else. Brittany looked even more uncomfortable.

_[Go back, then. You know how to find us.]_

I was growing more and more frustrated, more and more impatient as I watched the exchange. Sam was conversing with Quinn quietly, and Mercedes was attempting to talk to Affay, who blatantly ignored her existence. Kurt was holding Blaine's hand, and they were trading silent, worried looks with each other; but I burned holes into Gesii, who had no respect for Brittany's personal space as he tried to convince Brittany to leave with him. At least, that's what I pieced together from her responses.

_[Well, I refuse,]_ Brittany said weakly. _[And we need to leave before the Yeerks find us.]_

Gesii laughed openly_. [The Yeerks won't find us,]_ he bragged. _[But I suppose you are right. We will find you, Britta-Nysp-Ierce.]_ He turned to the other two Andalites and the three of them abruptly left, galloping off into the woods. I watched them go, stunned and furious.

We were silent for a long moment, and then Sam reminded us we needed to leave.

Brittany avoided my eyes as she changed quickly to her duck form and immediately took flight.

But if she thought I was going to forget what had just transpired, she was wrong.

* * *

_[It's about time,]_ Puck grumbled as he slinked from the shadows to the still-crumbled entrance to the _Batcave_. _[What took you guys so long? You should've beaten me here.]_

"We ran into those rogue Andalites," Sam said once he was sporting his own humongous lips again.

_[What? Dude-]_

"We'll explain inside," I snapped, moving to the lift and punching in the code. My patience was out the window- the entire silent flight home I'd been stewing, trying to figure out who that Andalite could possibly be to Brittany, and what it meant. Every answer I'd come up with did not set well with me. At all.

Was he an ex-boyfriend? _Current_ boyfriend? Husband? Creepy stalker? I clenched my jaw and quietly stormed inside as I rode the lift down to the _Batcave_.

Once we were all gathered in our normal meeting room, Kurt broke the silence.

"Brittany, why didn't you tell us you knew those Andalites?"

"Yeah, I asked if you did, and you said no," Sam accused.

_[Actually, I didn't answer at all, because Santana cut me off,]_ Brittany said, darting her eyes to me quickly. It was the first time she'd looked at me since Gesii had left; my face was a mask of stone-cold indifference. Brittany looked pained at my expression, and stumbled over her thoughts. _[But yes, Gesii and I know each other. We-]_ she paused- hesitant, nervous. _[We served in the military together.]_

"You seem closer than that," Quinn pointed out coldly, and I knew she was just trying to protect me, but at the same time, the only one Brittany really owed an explanation to was _me_, and I didn't want it all aired out in front of everyone.

"He said he would find us," Blaine said instead, and I felt a little relieved that the pressure had been taken off of Brittany and Gesii's relationship.

_[He will,]_ Brittany assured us. _[The next time we make an appearance, he will find us.]_

"Do you think they would want to team up?" Sam asked hopefully, and I scoffed.

"Didn't you hear the enthusiasm he had for us humans?" I asked, my voice hard and cutting. "He obviously wants nothing to do with any of us."

"Except Brittany," Kurt pointed out.

I clenched my jaw tighter.

"So maybe not team up for _good_," Mercedes said, "But at least work together on something, right?"

_[He is under strict orders from the Fleet,]_ Brittany explained_. [He is to cause as much damage to the Yeerks as possible in preparation for the Fleet's arrival.]_

_[Which is when?]_ Puck asked. He was sitting on the floor in front of Quinn, who had her hand on his head, stroking his fur.

Brittany shrugged_. [Indefinite. It could be tomorrow, it could be next year. It just depends on Z-space, which is ever-changing, and where the Fleet is coming from and any delays they may encounter.]_

"Well, that sucks," Arty said, looking downcast.

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

"So we can't count on the Fleet to save us," Quinn sighed.

"Were we ever counting on them to begin with?" I demanded angrily. "We didn't even know they were coming until today, so who cares if they show up or not?"

"None of us want to fight this war forever," Kurt snapped. "And the Andalites kind of dumped it on us, didn't they? It would be nice if they took it back over, considering they are far better equipped to deal with it than we are."

As irrationally pissed as I was at the Andalites, Kurt's statement didn't sit right with me. "That's not fair," I countered. "The Andalites don't want to fight the Yeerks forever, either."

"Look, I'm sure nobody wants to be involved in a war forever," Sam said reasonably, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace. "But here we are. Nothing's changed. Maybe the Andalites are coming, maybe they aren't. We can't count on them either way. We still have the same resources we had before- maybe more, if we can convince Prince Gesii to cooperate with us."

I rolled my eyes.

"Do you think he would, Brittany?" Mercedes asked softly.

"Yeah, since you know him so well," Blaine mentioned, and I couldn't tell if he was trying to be sarcastic or not.

Brittany shrugged, but I didn't miss the way she winced at Blaine's statement. _[I honestly don't know what his agenda is. He briefly summed up what his orders from the Fleet are, but they are in reality a lot more complicated than what I've told you. What his specific plans entail, I'm not entirely aware of.]_

Sam nodded thoughtfully, placing a hand under his chin, and I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my stomach. It got really quiet, and I noticed everyone was fidgeting nervously, lost in their own thoughts, and hesitant to talk or think about anything that had transpired recently. Rachel was dead; Puck was trapped; discussing the Andalite trio was a great distraction and let us all avoid the things we should've really been discussing.

It didn't stop everyone from casting sad, fleeting glances at Puck, and Mercedes looked more heartbroken and fragile than I'd ever seen her, but honestly, the main concern on my mind was Brittany, and everything else came second to sorting out whatever was going on with her. My mind was feeling overwhelmed with everything that had happened, but I pushed it to the side.

Sam talked some more about Beiste, and how Sugar was in contact with the Governor's people for us now that she was back from the Capitol. Other than that, he didn't really know much, but he did say that Beiste was willing to follow through with whatever we decided to do, which was kind of a big deal. That meant we had full government support at the State level, and it only further succeeded in convincing me that _now_ was the time to get out of the war, if we were ever going to. That deserted island seemed more and more appealing by the day.

I tried to focus in on what Sam was talking about but I was vibrating with anxiety. My stomach was clenching and my thoughts raced as I tried to figure out how I was going to approach Brittany on the subject of Gesii- should I just blurt it out? Should I-

"Take a day, and we'll meet back here tomorrow night to figure out what our next move is," Sam said tiredly, wrapping up the meeting. I immediately stood up, my eyes meeting Brittany's. Brittany dropped her gaze to the right quickly and I narrowed my eyes. What was she-

"Santana," Sam called, and damn, I was really getting tired of him interrupting my thoughts. I whipped my head around to glare at him, and he looked nervous for a moment before he offered me a hesitant smile. "Can we- uh- talk, for a moment?"

I shook my head. "Is it really that important?"

Sam looked apologetic, like he knew I wanted to go demand answers from Brittany but was going to delay me anyways, and nodded. "Yeah. I'd like to have a solid plan to present by tomorrow, so I kind of need your input right now." Ugh, I never thought I'd resent being asked for my opinions, but already I was regretting being involved with Sam's planning process.

I sighed, rolling my eyes, and stalked closer, plopping down in the chair next to Sam.

Sam took a deep breath, and I already knew he was going to piss me off with whatever he had to say. "Look, I know you're not going to like it," he started, and I shook my head slowly, hating that I was right, "but I really think Brittany should talk to Gesii and see if she can get him to cooperate with us."

"And you want my opinion?" I asked slowly.

Sam shrugged weakly. "Well, yeah-"

"That idea fucking _sucks_."

Sam nodded. "I had a feeling you'd say that, but-"

"Then why are you wasting my time?" I snapped, darting my eyes to the side. Everyone had already dispersed, including Brittany. I bounced my knee anxiously.

"Look, you want to know the truth?" Sam asked, and he sounded so serious that I decided to humor him with an exasperated shrug. "I don't like the idea, either. I don't want Brittany anywhere near Gesii- not only because I don't exactly trust him, but also because I don't know what he has on her, or if he can get her to default to his side."

"Brittany would _never_-"

Sam held up his hand to halt my protest. "I'm not saying she would. But she may not have a choice." I swallowed, my throat feeling suddenly dry. Sam made a good point- I hadn't even thought about that. Andalites had laws, and Brittany still had a job to do, and as much as she'd promised she wasn't going to do it and that she was going to end the war living happily ever after with me- and truthfully, I _believed_ her- things change, and Gesii was an unknown factor.

Sam let me process for a minute before he continued. "In any case, I still think it's a good idea to win him over. If we can get him on our side, we won't have to worry about going up _against_ him. And the best way to do that is through Brittany, since he obviously favors her."

I nodded absently, chewing my lip. I was still lost in my thoughts about Brittany defaulting to Gesii's team, even though I knew-

"Do you know anything about their relationship?"

Sam's question snapped me back to the present. "What?" I asked dumbly, before my mind caught up and processed his question. "No- I was about to find out until _someone_ pulled me aside." I glared at Sam and he gave me another apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that." He dropped his gaze to his lap, took a deep breath, and when he looked back up at me, his eyes were hard and a little bit cold. "Brittany _will_ talk to Gesii, get him on our side- and then, once we have him, we can use him to execute my plan."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Which is _what_, exactly?"

"We're going to blow up the Yeerk Pool."

I sat in stunned silence, blinking. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Both seemed like viable options. "Blow up the Yeerk Pool?" I echoed. The idea sounded ridiculous, like some pipe dream fantasy of a 12-year-old version of Sam. Or Arty, maybe. I didn't even know how we would accomplish his plan in _any_ lifetime, never mind the one we were currently actually living in.

Sam nodded, his expression completely serious, and that's what made me realize- we were going to do this. Whether I liked it or not. Whether I wanted to or not. My mouth dropped open in shock.

"Blow up the Pool, and we hurt the Yeerks beyond repair," he continued, his voice holding a commanding tone I'd never heard before. I studied Sam's face as he spoke, and tried to figure out if I even knew who he was anymore. "It's their main feeding source, the center of life for them. If it's gone, they have nowhere to go. They will be forced to leave- or die."

"Or construct a _new_ Pool, if they don't have one already," I chimed in harshly. Sam was talking crazy. How the fuck did he think we were going to blow up the fucking _Yeerk Pool_? We could barely handle an abandoned warehouse, for fuck's sake!

"Then we go after that one, too," Sam said. "This war is not going to remain secret for much longer. Now that we have Beiste's support, we have the resources and the manpower to systematically seek out every feeding place and destroy it."

"If you knock down a wasp nest, the wasps come out," I hissed. "If you blow up the Pool, you are forcing this war to become an open, grand-scale fight."

"No choice," Sam snapped. "Do you want to be done, or not?"

"I'd like to be done, but not _dead_."

"Well we can't keep doing what we're doing," Sam said harshly. "Or we're going to end up that way. We've already lost Puck-"

"We lost him before, why does it suddenly matter now?"

"Because now it's more permanent, there's no _hope_ of saving him-"

"At least he's free-"

"Free to lick his own asshole for the rest of his life?" Sam demanded angrily.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's be real, if he could've done that _before,_ he probably would have."

Sam glared. "Not funny, Santana."

"Look, I get what you're saying. We're all tired. But if you do this- if you fuck with the Yeerks- then you might start something we aren't prepared for."

"None of us were prepared to fight this war when Willi-Amschu-Ester gave us the transforming power," Sam said tiredly. "I've made up my mind."

"What about all the hosts down in the Pool?" I demanded. "Your parents? Quinn's parents? What's going to happen to them when you blow it up?"

Sam shook his head. "Sacrifices must be made, Santana. I hope they aren't there when it all goes down, but…"

"Listen to yourself," I snapped. "The only reason you started fighting was to keep them safe, and now you're saying you don't fucking care if they perish, because _sacrifices must be made_? Get off your Horse of Nobility and stop being such a fucking martyr."

Sam sighed, sounding extremely worn out. "That _used_ to be my reason," he said softly, giving me a weak smile that didn't reach his eyes. "But this is so much bigger than that, and I-" he paused to swallow and compose himself, because his voice had begun to waver at the end. He cleared his throat. "I may never save them. And losing Rachel- how fast it all happened-" he paused again. "It made me realize that I can't put the people I love first above winning this war. It's putting too much at stake for very little payoff. We risked a lot to save Rachel, and in the end we- and then, one of us is as good as dead. And what if the next time _half_ of us are gone? Then who would stop the Yeerks? We can't count on the Andalites, and no one else is coming. We can't ever put ourselves out there like that again, not unless it's for something like this; it could cost us the war, the entire human race. And winning is too important."

I shook my head bitterly, looking at Sam like he'd personally offended me. "Winning isn't everything," I said with a frown. Did he honestly not care that some of us could die in this war, so long as we won when it was over?

Do the ends truly justify the means?

Was I being selfish because I _wasn't_ enthusiastic about sacrificing everything- my family, my dreams, my life, Brittany- for this war?

"For me, it has to be. Too much rests on it."

I scoffed. "Yeah? And have you even stopped to think what winning would mean, if in the end, you have nothing? Would it even still be winning, then?"

Sam was silent, but offered me a sad, sad smile. Maybe he _had_ thought about it. Maybe he'd even accepted it. I tried to think about what he'd said- what did that mean for _us_? Was he willing to sacrifice our lives because the bigger picture- the entire human race- was at stake? Did he expect us to give up our families, give up what was important to us, to put the mission first?

Would I give up Brittany to ensure the safety of the human race?

I opened my mouth. "Sam-"

"Go talk to Brittany, Santana," he said gently. "And when you're done, send her to me so I can explain to her what I want her to do. Okay?"

I took a deep breath, my eyes searching his face for any trace of the Sam I used to know. How had he changed so suddenly? Had it been sudden? I had realized he'd been changing- we all had- but not into this person who was sitting in front of me. After a long, intense moment, I quietly stood up from my chair and made my way to the room I shared with Brittany.

How could a life without the things most important to you ever be considered a victory?

* * *

Brittany was waiting for me, in her human form, in our room when I got there, looking more anxious than I'd ever seen her. Our eyes met, and I regarded her carefully. Her gaze darted all over my face, searching, pleading. I tried to keep up my mask of indifference, my calm, cold barrier, so that I didn't become overly emotional. And so that I didn't let Snix out.

Brittany swallowed, and I watched her throat bob. "Say something, please," she said, her voice quavering slightly.

"Are you going to tell me who Gesii is?" I asked, my voice hard. Might as well get this over with. _Stay cool, Santana._

Brittany dropped her gaze to the side. "I don't want you to overreact, it's not-"

"It's a little late for that, Brittany," I snapped. So much for staying cool. "So I'm gonna need you to explain some things."

Brittany winced, but then she looked up at me, catching my eyes. "Do you trust me, Santana?" she asked suddenly. The question took me by surprise, and my eyebrows shot up.

"Yes, but-" I was cut off by Brittany's lips as she lunged forward. She kissed me, and I could feel the desperation in it. It made the kiss feel- wrong, somehow, and I tried to pull away, but she moved with me, wrapping her arms around me to keep me close. I let her kiss me, but inside my thoughts were racing. What was she doing? Why was she avoiding my questions? Why was I _letting_ her? I could feel the guilt and unease pouring off of her, and the desperate way her fingers clenched at my hair and the way her tongue moved in my mouth finally made me pull away.

"Brittany," I panted, but she didn't let up. She kissed me again, and I struggled to take a step back. This time, she stepped with me, and I didn't realize she was guiding me until my legs hit the back of the bed. Fuck-

I landed on my back with Brittany on top of me, completely relentless with her mouth. I didn't know what she was trying to prove, but it was doing nothing to reassure me. Brittany had always communicated better through touch, so I knew she was trying to communicate _something_ - but whatever it was, it wasn't exactly filling me with joy.

Despite the complete apprehension I was feeling at Brittany's frantic actions, I couldn't help my body from responding, and as her hips rolled down into me, a moan worked its way up from my throat, encouraging her. It was the feel of her hand on my inner thigh that finally jolted me into awareness, and I put a hand on her shoulder, pushing back gently.

"Brittany, _no_," I said, a little breathless. I tried to sit up a little. When I met her gaze, her blue eyes held a look that was sad and rejected, and I reached up to cup her face tenderly, watching her.

She leaned her forehead against mine and took deep, shaky breaths. She was trembling, and I felt my stomach clenching in fear. Oh, God, this was going to be bad, wasn't it? Fuck. What if Gesii's like, her Andalite husband? Was that the worst possible scenario? I guess I could think of more-

Brittany lifted her eyes to mine. "I love you," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "And I want you to know that I would never, _ever_ betray you-"

I cut her off. "I know, and I would never betray you, either." I let my thumb stroke her cheek, and she reached up to cover my hands with her own, so that we were both holding her face. I took a deep breath. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Brittany nodded slightly against me. "Yes, but- I'm so s-scared of how you're going to react," she whispered, and my stomach clenched so hard it hurt. I felt cold, preparing myself for whatever bomb Brittany was going to drop on me. I pulled my hands from her face and shifted away. Brittany looked panicked, and she quickly snatched up my hands again, as if she was terrified that I was going to leave her, or not hear her out.

I moved to lean against the headboard of the bed, and Brittany shuffled to follow me, staying in my lap and resting her hands on my shoulders. I let my hands fall to the bed, not touching her, but allowing her to be close to me, since it seemed to calm her. I know part of the reason she was on top of me was to keep me from storming out, I wasn't stupid- but I definitely didn't like that she felt like she needed to do that. It worried me, and made the cold feeling in my stomach intensify.

Finally, I took a deep breath. "I'm listening," I said, with as little emotion as possible.

Brittany cringed at my tone, shook her head slightly, and her eyes darted wildly around, as if she was searching for how to begin her story. She opened her mouth to explain, and I kind of wish she hadn't.

"We're betrothed," she blurted, staring at the sheets beside us, and then hesitantly bringing her eyes up to mine to see my reaction. I remained emotionless, but inside I was storming.

_What_?

Brittany rushed to explain. "But it's not like when humans are betrothed, it's different," she said, her eyes pleading. I gave her nothing except a raised eyebrow, encouraging her to continue. I wasn't sure I could say anything without screaming.

Seemingly reassured that I was actually going to listen, Brittany took another deep breath. I hadn't noticed, but she was panting. And I knew that if I'd put my hand on her chest, her heart would be pounding. She was terrified. "Before the wa-war, Andalites were only allowed to have one child, to control the population. Our planet has limited resources, and- and though we have the technology to explore space, we were content with our own environment." She paused to swallow, growing a little more confident in her story as I remained silent.

"But then the war happened," she said softly. "And many, many lives were lost. Our population was decimated, but we weren't reproducing fast enough, weren't replacing the lives lost. That's when a scientist came up with the _Therant_ Experiment, and- well, what it is- it- it matches up Andalites."

"So it's like an Andalite version of Ok!Cupid?" I accused.

"I don't know what that means," Brittany admitted. "Gesii-Saynt-Djaims is my match."

"What?" I asked bitterly, my emotionless expression finally shifting into an expression of hurt. "So you're like- _together_?"

"No, no. It's much less romantic than that," Brittany said, her tone pleading for me to believe her. "In nature the strongest survive, right? Well, that's what the _Therant_ Experiment aims to do- to match up two Andalites based on strength alone, without care to their personal interests. Genetically and physically, Gesii and I are the most compatible to produce talented, extraordinary offspring. Yet, we have literally nothing else in common."

I shook my head disgustedly. "So you're just going to fuck him and have his babies?"

Brittany's eyes widened. "What? No! I'm not- _fucking_-" she said, testing the word out on her tongue, "anyone but _you_. I'm just trying to explain to you what Gesii is to me." She tentatively reached for my hand, pulling it into our combined laps, since she was still straddling me, and began to shyly play with my fingers while I stewed in what she'd told me.

In reality, it shouldn't have been a big deal. It shouldn't have been a big deal. It shouldn't have-

"Well _he_ seems to be into it, I mean, you must be one hot piece of Andalite ass," I spat, narrowing my eyes at Brittany. Despite the fact that Brittany hadn't actually done anything wrong other than keep a gigantic secret from me, like the fact that she _had a fiancé_, I was pretty hurt and upset. And when I got upset, I got mean.

But Brittany wasn't giving in. She tightened her grip on my hand and rolled her eyes at my comment. "I _am_," she answered, and that didn't exactly make me feel better, "but he sees only my body and his own personal gain- not _me_. Not like you." She squeezed my hand, and I felt my anger starting to melt away at her sweet words- but I wasn't ready to stop being mad yet, so I struggled to hold on to the feeling.

I huffed. "But he still _wants_ you-"

Brittany shook her head. "He wants what _having_ me will mean. My father is a great War-Prince, remember? Gesii hopes to win some favor and advance his rank through me."

"And what of your father?" I demanded. "What does he think?"

Brittany sighed sadly, and I felt slightly bad for bringing it up, but- I needed to know. I didn't want any more surprises to show up. "He's for it," Brittany said in a small, sad voice. "After all, what else could I possibly amount to? At least if I am married off to Gesii he won't have to worry about what to do with me anymore."

I sighed, still angry, but mostly feeling sad for Brittany. She'd been through so much, and she'd really had a shitty life. How could I get upset at her for things she basically had no control over? Still- "B, why didn't you tell me all this _before_? It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd _known,_ instead of finding out when Gesii shows up to blatantly kiss you right before my eyes."

Brittany blushed, looking sheepish at the fact that I hadn't missed that exchange. She dropped her eyes to our laps, and resumed shyly stroking my fingers. Her blush deepened. "Honestly, I- I haven't been able to stop thinking about _you_ long enough to spare him a thought," she admitted, her voice timid and bashful.

"Britt," I sighed, my heart giving an involuntary leap. Because, come on- how could I stay mad at her when she was so sweet and perfect? I shifted my hand to lock our fingers together, and she looked up at me through her lashes, a small, hopeful smile coming to her face. I reached up with my other hand and cupped her cheek, stroking my fingers down it and letting my hand slide under her jaw to tug her forward into a kiss.

I could feel Brittany's smile widen against my lips, and she slid her free hand up behind my neck, cradling the back of my head. When we finally pulled apart she rested her forehead against mine again, still smiling. "Thank you," she breathed. I squeezed her hand in response.

Deciding to lighten the mood, I raised a curious eyebrow. "So what makes Gesii so _extraordinary_?" I asked.

Brittany straightened up a little. "He's a four-time tailfighting champion," she said with only slight sarcasm. "He has the fastest tail in the military. He's extremely deadly and accurate- he never misses. Which is why I don't want you interacting with him."

"Britt," I protested, my eyes widened. No _way_ was I _not_ going to fight for my girl's honor-

"Santana, please."

"Brittany, _no_," I said angrily. "I don't like the way he talks to you, or treats you, and I swear to _God_, if he fucking kisses you again I'm gonna go _apeshit_." Brittany blinked in confusion, so I clarified, "I'll murder that asshat- tailfighting champion or not. I'll-"

Brittany silenced me with a kiss, and then slid off my lip, tugging me to my feet with her. I gave her a questioning look as we stood beside the bed, but she shook her head, already beginning her transformation back to Andalite, not letting go of my hands. When she was finished, she towered nearly a foot over me, but she guided my left hand up behind her head.

"What're you-"

_[If you are so intent on fighting an Andalite, then you need to know where our vulnerability is,]_ Brittany said calmly in my head, her blue eyes penetrating into mine. I shifted closer so I could reach behind her better. I focused on the feel of her soft, short fur under my fingertips as she pressed them against her head, a few inches behind her deerlike, fluffy ear.

_[An Andalite's skull is not as strong as a human's,]_ Brittany explained softly as she guided my hand_. [Our bones are a lot more fragile, actually, and there's a particularly weak spot in our skull-]_ I could feel her bones beneath her skin under my fingers, and then, as she dragged them along, I felt her skull dip a little and I involuntarily tried to jerk my fingers away. Brittany held them firmly to the soft spot, confirming_, [-here.]_

I nodded, feeling extremely honored that Brittany trusted me with that kind of information. She wasn't just giving me her own weakness- she was giving me the weak spot of _every_ Andalite. I hoped I would never have to exploit it, but it was good information to know- just in case. I caught Brittany's eyes again- they were bright blue, and I was suddenly, acutely aware that I was practically pressed flush to Brittany's front. I took a deep, steady breath, realizing that it was the first time I'd been so intimate and close to Brittany in her natural form. I swallowed and closed my eyes, just feeling the warmth emanating from Brittany. And though she was an alien, her warmth was familiar.

Without even thinking about it, I laid my head against Brittany's flat chest, enjoying the way her soft fur felt under my cheek. I let my hand stroke down her head, then her neck, until I was sliding my arms around her waist in a hug. I felt Brittany's fingers graze down my arms, and then she was wrapping them around me, and we were hugging, for the first time, as our natural selves. And it didn't feel weird at all. It felt- comfortable. And suddenly, I realized that I loved Brittany even as an Andalite. I tightened my arms around her, and she stroked hesitant, gentle fingers through my hair, so soft I'm sure she thought she might break me if she touched me any harder.

I nuzzled my cheek into her chest. Is this what it felt like for Brittany when she snuggled against me as a human? I mean, I wasn't an Andalite doing this, but I also couldn't create my own Andalite form, either. Brittany's human form was as much a part of Brittany as her Andalite form, now- but I had barely interacted with Brittany on a physical level in her natural body. I mean, don't get me wrong- I wasn't about to try and have sex with her, because- uh, _weird_, even for me- but the intimate hug we were sharing said so much more than anything we could've said out loud.

I remembered what Brittany told me about Gesii not seeing _her_, and only seeing himself. I wondered what it was like to be _invisible_. I wondered what it was like to not be accepted- by her family, by the military, by society.

I squeezed Brittany to me, wanting her to know that I will always see her. I'll always accept her.

Oh, fuck. This is turning into an _Avatar_ movie.

Maybe now I can watch that movie and understand what it means.

* * *

It was hours later, and I was lying in Brittany's arms. She'd spent the time making love to me (not that I'm complaining, of course) reassuring me that I was the only one she wanted, would ever want, had ever been with, would ever be with. It soothed and comforted me, and I was relieved that, with everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, my relationship with Brittany had only grown stronger. It reaffirmed that Brittany was my support, and that she would always be there; I could always count on her.

Unfortunately, with my relationship problems fixed, it freed my mind up to think about the other issues I'd been avoiding. Sam's sudden change; Rachel's sudden death; Puck being trapped; how it all boiled down to my decisions. I still felt guilty, still questioned myself- what if I _had_ sent Brittany down to help? I thought about what Sam said, about not being selfish. About not putting the ones he loved first, before the mission. I had done that. I had put Brittany first before the mission, which was to save Rachel. I felt guilty about it, but I didn't regret my choice- I would _always_ choose Brittany.

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked softly, tightening her arm around my shoulders. I pressed a kiss to the base of her neck, and she sighed.

"I'm fine, Britt. Just- thinking about stuff," I said.

"Yeah?" she breathed into my hair before kissing my head, and I snuggled into her further. She felt so _good_.

"Yeah." I swallowed, but I knew I needed to talk to someone, and Brittany would never judge me. "I feel," I started slowly, taking a deep breath. "I feel like Puck getting trapped is all my fault," I confessed, and after I said it, I felt a little better, like a weight had been lifted. I still felt guilty- of course- but it wasn't crushing guilt.

Brittany shifted under me and I looked up at her face. She was looking away from me, biting her lip and I narrowed my gaze, trying to figure her out. "Santana," she started, and her eyes darted back to me briefly. "You shouldn't blame yourself for that."

I raised an eyebrow, and for some reason, I remembered right after Puck told us he was trapped- the unreadable look on Brittany's face- and I shook my head slowly. "There's something you're not telling me."

Brittany hesitated, but then nodded. She swallowed. She looked at me, and she looked sad. "Puck lied."

"What?" I whispered, my eyes searching hers, waiting for her to explain herself. What did she mean, Puck lied?

"He wasn't trapped when he said he was."

"How do you know?" I demanded, not in anger, but in desperation. What was going on? Puck wasn't trapped? I had felt guilty for nothing?

"Well, when Puck was trying to save Rachel, he got shot in the foot, remember?" Brittany said, nervously circling her thumb on my shoulder. "But then, when we were in the woods before Gesii found us, his foot was fine. Which means he must've transformed sometime between the two, which means he had plenty of time left in that form to change back, and he was lying when he told us that the limit had passed."

My mouth literally dropped open. First at the fact that Brittany was so smart and observant- and second at the fact that not only had Puck lied, but he had deliberately trapped himself as a dog- if he'd even trapped himself at all. For all I know, he could just be changing back every two hours like Brittany does, and-

"What the actual fuck," I whispered. "I'm gonna fucking _kill_ him-"

"Santana, don't-"

"How _dare_ he fucking do that shit? Brittany, why would he do that shit?" I was getting pretty worked up. Not so much on the angry side, but more on the hysterical side. What the actual fuck? _What the actual fuck?! _"Why would he think that being a dog was a good idea?! Why would he deliberately trap himself in a form?!"

"Well," Brittany started hesitantly, as if afraid I was going to start yelling at her, "isn't that what _I'm_ going to do after the war? Stay human permanently?"

"That's different," I snapped. "That's to be with me. Puck doesn't have some _lady dog friend_-"

"Yes, but it was an easy choice for me, because I wish to escape the war; Don't you think Puck wishes the same?"

"So what? He didn't _have_ to keep fighting-"

"And how would that make him feel- knowing we are all risking our lives every day? How would it make _you_ feel?"

I sighed in frustration. Brittany had a point, as usual, but still. I might feel bad for a while, but I'd forget about all that shit soon enough, once I was on my deserted island with Brittany. I shook my head bitterly. "He still could've talked to us. "

"He probably didn't know how," Brittany said sadly. "I'm not saying he'd been _planning_ this- I'm simply saying that the opportunity arose, and after losing Rachel, it all became too much. I mean- that was his one battle, the one thing he wanted to accomplish, and she ended up dead. And maybe if he hadn't tried, Rachel would still be alive."

"Still a slave," I pointed out.

"But still alive," Brittany countered. "And we'd free her when the war ended."

"It doesn't matter, because we will never know."

"But it would certainly be hard to cope with," Brittany said quietly, averting her eyes to where her thumb was still stroking my shoulder.

"I don't know, I guess I hadn't thought of that," I relented.

If I was confused before, I was definitely confused now. I thought about what Brittany said- Puck wanting to escape having to fight, wanting to escape the war. And I tried to pin it back to what Sam said, about giving up loved ones; and then about how _I_ felt, about being selfish. Was Puck being selfish? Or was he so guilt-ridden that he punished himself by remaining a dog?

Did he do it to escape the war?

Or his own shame?

I guess I would never know. I couldn't exactly confront him about it, could I?

And then I thought about Brittany. She had kept his secret- she hadn't called Puck out on his lie, even though she _knew_ he'd been lying. And that got me wondering about Brittany remaining trapped, too. She obviously felt some sympathy for Puck, and understood his reasons. She'd said she wanted to escape the war, but- she wasn't planning on changing until after the war _ended_, unless we really did go to our desert island.

Was Brittany going to trap herself as a human because she was trying to pursue her future?

Or trying to escape her past?

* * *

**Hmmm.**

**So, next chapter we will go more into how Puck being trapped affects the others; Beiste returns, and helps Sam set his crazy plans in motion; and shit gets a lot heavier, so. You know. That.**

**In parting, I would like to say, BRITTANA FOREVER, FUQ DA HATERS **

**And**

**Review if you feel like it, but if you don't then FINE, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT I AIN'T YOUR BABYSITTER.**

**See you next time, pals! :)~**


	35. Misstep

**Hi guys! :D**

**Sorry for the delay, work's still been crazy, but it's actually calming down now so I should have a lot more time to write- which is good, because we're getting into the final few chapters of this story, and they're gonna be pretty intense, so I don't want to make you guys wait so long between updates.**

**Thanks, everyone who read or reviewed or followed or favorited or lurked or recc'd the last chapter. You are all my favorites. :')**

**This chapter gets heavy, so remember the M rating! Shit's going to go down! **

**Happy reading! **

* * *

"See you soon?" I asked hopefully as I walked Brittany to Sam's room so she could talk to him. We stopped outside his door and I turned to face her. I squeezed her hand and stroked my thumb over her cheek, and she leaned into my touch, smiling.

"Of course," she whispered, pressing a quick kiss to my lips and resting her forehead on mine.

"Don't let him push you into anything," I murmured. "If he starts being a dick, come get me and I'll-"

Brittany giggled, squeezing my hand again. "I'll be fine, Santana."

I sighed. "Okay." I reluctantly pulled away, taking a step back, still holding Brittany's hand. "Come find me when you're done?"

Brittany nodded. "Where will you be?"

I shrugged. "I'll probably go bother Quinn or something."

Brittany nodded again. Neither of us moved. I didn't let go of Brittany's hand. She laughed again.

"San…"

I huffed. "Okay, okay." I paused, then pulled her towards me to give her a hard kiss. She smiled against my lips, returning it, and then pulled away.

"I'll see you soon," she promised.

"Not soon enough," I pouted.

Yeah, okay, I knew I was being pathetic and clingy. I couldn't help it. I watched as Brittany finally turned away and knocked on Sam's door. He opened it to let her in, and I took a deep breath, spun on my heel, and went to find Quinn.

I needed something to do, something to take my mind off of the fact that Sam was currently trying to convince Brittany to go talk to Gesii. Because I definitely did not like that plan.

At all.

* * *

I found Quinn sitting in her room, listening to an audiobook while knitting.

Yeah.

I gave her the most judgmental look I could manage as I entered her room at her command, and she gave me a glare.

"Is this really happening right now?" I asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow and looking around the room as if I had just entered a crime scene.

"Is there a problem?" Quinn challenged, setting down her knitting needles and leaning forward in her rocking chair- yes, you read that right- to shut off her audiobook.

"Other than the fact that I'm not completely sure you're not actually an elderly woman? Nope," I said as I flopped down on the floor beside her chair.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's relaxing, all right?"

"Are you knitting an afghan?" I teased, reaching forward to touch the soft material in her lap. She swatted my hand away.

"What do you want?" she huffed.

"Well, I was hoping you'd crochet me some socks, but-"

"Santana," she seethed through gritted teeth and I laughed.

"All right," I relented. "Brittany's talking to Sam, so I figured I'd come bother you." I tried to sneak my hand back into her lap to grab at the garment again, but she gave my hand another quick slap.

"You're doing a great job," she complained, glaring at me.

I shrugged. "I try." I looked at her. "So how long have you been a senior citizen? Can you get me a discount at the movie theatre?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I already said- it's _relaxing_."

"Right."

"You know, if you spent half as much time on a relaxing hobby that you do on making fun of me for having one, maybe you wouldn't be so wound up all the time," Quinn snapped.

"Excuse you. I am not wound up all the time. I have Brittany to help me relieve my tension."

"Oh, is _that_ what you're calling it now?"

"Would you rather I call it mind-blowing, amazing, carna-"

"I'd rather you not call it _anything_," Quinn groaned, raising a hand to halt me. I smirked.

"Don't be jealous, Q."

"I'm not jealous. Because now that Brittany's busy, you have nothing better to do but pester me-"

"Consider yourself lucky."

"-and if you had a _hobby_, you wouldn't need to be doing that."

"But then you'd be in here being an elderly lady all _alone_," I said, giving her a sympathetic look.

Quinn laughed. "I'm perfectly okay with that."

"Quinn," I said seriously. "I get that you are settling into your life of being a spinster now that your one chance for love has been reduced to sniffing crotches for the rest of his life, but there are other guys out there, you know."

Quinn shot me a withering look. "Because I have _so_ much time to start dating," she grumped. She paused, thoughtful. "You talk like he wasn't sniffing crotches _before_ he got trapped as a dog."

I laughed. "True."

Quinn sighed. "I can't believe we're laughing about this."

"_I_ can," I muttered darkly. I had no sympathy for Puck- not with what I knew about him. Quinn looked at me, her eyes questioning, curious. I chewed my lip. For a moment, I debated internally with myself. Should I tell her what Brittany told me? About Puck trapping himself on purpose? Would it make her feel better? Or worse?

"Can I tell you something?" Quinn asked, turning her attention straight ahead. Before I could respond, she continued. "It sounds crazy, but-" she lowered her voice, averting her eyes to her lap. "I think Puck _chose_ to stay a dog."

"What?" I sputtered. How the fuck did she figure that out? Was it completely obvious? Was I the only one who didn't see that Puck had deliberately trapped himself?

"I know; it's crazy, right?"

Not _that_ crazy.

She took a deep breath. "But I've been thinking about it, and- honestly, it makes sense to me. He couldn't bear the guilt of failing Rachel- we'd talked about it a lot before- and now that she's- well." Quinn paused, licked her lips. "It's probably a good thing that he's a dog."

I looked at Quinn, and not for the first time, I realized how smart she was. She'd made that conclusion based on her intimate knowledge of Puck; Brittany had made the conclusion based on hard facts; and I hadn't paid attention to detail enough to make any conclusion at all. I wondered how many of the others had figured it out. Was that why no one was bringing it up? Because no one knew how to confront Puck about his decision?

"How is it a good thing?" I muttered. Seriously? Puck being a dog was only good for _him_, because he got to escape the war, but what about the rest of us? What about his family?

"Think about it- what if he'd let his guilt overtake him? And then got suicidal or crazy on the next mission? He could be dead, which is worse. At least this way he's alive, and still a small part of the team. And there's always hope that someday the Andalites will find a way to reverse the technology, or-"

"Yeah, I'm sure Puck's mom and sister are eternally grateful," I snapped. "They _just_ got him back, and now they have to get used to having him as their family _pet_, for fuck's sake."

"At least they have him back at all," Quinn said defensively. "I think that's infinitely better than holding a funeral."

"I guess…" I said, but then I wondered- is it better to hope, or to have confirmation? At least with hope you can tell yourself whatever you want to believe- that they're coming home, that they're alive, whatever. Like families with missing children- they don't have to know the horrors that befall them, they can live in an _ignorance is bliss_ bubble. But with confirmation, there is no _ignorance_, no _bliss_. You know for certain that they're dead.

Or trapped as a dog.

I looked at Quinn, who was wearing a troubled expression on her face, and I felt compelled to confess my part in the whole situation. Out of all of us _Transformers_, Quinn was the most affected by Puck's decision. Even if they weren't together, I knew Quinn cared about Puck in a way that no one else did. They shared some kind of connection, and even if their hope at having a long-term romance was dead before it ever got off the ground, it was still an important part of both of their lives. And if she could forgive me for whatever fault I perceived was mine for getting Puck trapped, then I could probably forgive myself, right?

"Q," I started hesitantly. I swallowed, my throat feeling suddenly dry. "If I had sent Brittany to get Rachel, she might still be alive, and Puck wouldn't be trapped."

Quinn looked at me, her serious hazel eyes penetrating into mine as I met her gaze. "What do you mean?"

I explained what happened- with Puck, with Rachel. With Brittany. How Puck had requested help, and I had denied him- had refused to send Brittany down to him in an interest to preserve her life. And Quinn listened quietly, objectively. She didn't interrupt. It was scaring me. "So I don't know- it's kind of my fault, isn't it?" I finished, wincing as I anticipated Quinn agreeing with me.

After a long moment, Quinn shook her head. "Santana- you had no way of knowing what would happen. Puck's choices are still his own. You made the best decision you could, given the circumstances."

"But if I had sent Brittany-"

"If you had sent Brittany, she might be dead, too," Quinn said firmly. "There's no way of knowing if she would've made a difference in getting Rachel out. Puck could've backed out, like you told him to. He could've waited for Sam to get there. We could've tried another time to free Rachel instead of forcing it at the wrong time."

"Puck was worried about Sam's orders."

Quinn scoffed. "_Please_. If it was something we really wanted, we could've convinced Sam to try again. There was no need to make it happen right then. Puck knew that- he was just being impatient."

I nodded, considering her words.

"Besides," she continued. "Everything was going according to plan until those stupid Andalites showed up. So sending Brittany in wouldn't have guaranteed anything."

My blood ran cold. Those Andalites- as if I needed another reason to hate them. Gesii, especially. And Sam was currently convincing Brittany to talk to them, to get them to cooperate with us. My mouth suddenly tasted bitter.

"No," Quinn was saying, and I focused back on her words. "Visser Seven hated Rachel, if only because he knew Puck favored her. There was no way he was letting her walk away free- ugh, we were so _stupid_-"

I swallowed. Quinn was right, but we had realized that too late. If Rachel had escaped, it would've been a serious blow to Visser Seven's ego. Whatever went on between Visser Seven and Puck was personal, and Rachel was a huge part of it. So of course there was no way we could've ever saved Rachel- even if I had sent Brittany.

But then I started thinking- if Visser Seven had ordered Rachel's death rather than let her walk away free- rather than letting Puck win- how could we think we could ever rescue anyone we loved without it ending in the same result?

Was Sam right to give up his family?

I got lost in my troubled thoughts, surprisingly grateful when we eventually changed the subject to knitting, and not long after, Brittany came in and rescued me. She sat _right_ next to me, threading our fingers together, and leaned in close to my ear.

"Sam wants me to find Gesii now," she said softly, and she squeezed my hand as my entire body went rigid at the news.

"_Now_?" I repeated.

"He sure doesn't waste any time," Quinn muttered, inspecting whatever she was knitting with a puzzled expression on her face. I guess she'd mixed up her knots or whatever the fuck they were. Like I'd been _listening_ to Quinn? Please.

Brittany moved closer, letting her lips brush under my ear before placing a tender kiss there. "Come with me," she breathed.

"To talk to Gesii?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I doubt _he'll_ appreciate that."

"Maybe not, but you can escort me to meet him," Brittany said with a shrug and an encouraging smile, and how could I resist when she was looking at me like _that_?

"Okay," I relented, leaning in to give her a kiss, and no sooner had our lips met when Quinn was clearing her throat loudly. I ignored her and deepened the kiss, and Quinn continued to hack and cough like she was dying, her coughs becoming increasingly more dramatic until Brittany was giggling.

"Jeez, Q- maybe you should get that checked out," I muttered.

* * *

"I still think this is an awful idea," I grumbled as I strolled next to Brittany, one hand shoved into my pocket, the other holding Brittany's delicate Andalite hand. We were in the woods, walking around Brittany's scoop, where Brittany assured me Gesii would find her.

_[I know, San- but I think it's better to have Gesii and his followers on our side rather than opposing us, don't you think?]_

"I guess," I mumbled. Really I just wished they would go back to wherever they came from. Then we wouldn't have to stress about _either_ of those scenarios.

_[Besides- it will be nice to not have to worry about them randomly showing up to ruin our plans, right?]_

I nodded. "You make an extremely valid point."

_[Don't I always?]_ Brittany teased, her blue eyes glinting playfully. I smiled at her, and we walked on in silence for a few more steps before I spoke again.

"So we just wander around here, waiting for them to show up?"

Brittany shrugged. _[Basically. He said he has this area under surveillance, so-]_

_Of course he does._

A twig snapping drew my attention, and while I had my head turned, I felt something cold press to my neck.

_[Gesii, that won't be necessary,]_ Brittany said, annoyed. The cold thing against my neck- I assumed it was a shredder- lowered, and Gesii stepped into view, glaring.

_[Why is that thing here?]_ he asked sullenly.

_[Gesii!]_ Brittany scolded, her tail twitching angrily. _[She is my _friend_.]_

_[Oh. Right,]_ Gesii said, sounding bored and unconvinced. _[Well, then.]_ He looked at me disdainfully before stretching his hand awkwardly towards me in what I assumed was his attempt to shake hands.

At Brittany's reassuring look, I took his hand in my own. It wasn't as soft as Brittany's, but it was still pretty soft, and as Gesii introduced himself personally to me in his boasting, arrogant way, I focused on his sleek muscles, his thick, powerful tail, the pressure of his hand in mine, and felt his DNA become a part of me.

I acquired him. Never know when his form might come in handy, right?

Gesii's main eyes fluttered only briefly, and when the process was complete, he shot me a look. He had no way of knowing I acquired him, but I'm sure he was suspicious.

"And I'm Santana, nice to meet you, too," I said harshly, focusing his attention away from the fact that I had basically just stolen his DNA. When I released his hand, I looked at Brittany, who was watching me curiously. She definitely knew.

_[Have you decided to join my party?]_ Gesii asked Brittany hopefully, ignoring me once again. He had an expression that was borderline manic, he was so delighted at the idea. I rolled my eyes.

_[No, I have come to talk to you about some important matters,]_ Brittany said softly. _[Might you lead me somewhere safe, of your choosing, so that we can discuss them?]_

_ [Of course,]_ Gesii said happily. _[We have much to discuss.]_

"Don't get any ideas," I snapped. "_Discussing_ will be the only thing she'll be doing with you."

Gesii turned to give me an offended look. _[Santana, I must say- you seem to have taken far too much interest in Britta-Nysp-Ierce.] _

"I could say the same for _you_," I shot back angrily, narrowing my eyes at him. My hands curled into fists.

Gesii looked, if possible, even more appalled. He turned to Brittany. _[It acts with more than friendship in mind,]_ he said disgustedly. _[Britta, who is this human to you, really?]_

Brittany hesitated, her main eyes darting to the side before landing on mine, and she smiled her bright Andalite smile at me as she said, _[She's my _therant-kala_.]_

I smiled back, getting lost for a moment in deep blue.

Until Gesii broke it with his laughter.

_[That's impossible,]_ he cackled. _[You are obviously starving for affection. I'm sure you've been missing me since we've been- regretfully- separated-]_ He stepped closer to Brittany, reached out to stroke her cheek- and I felt myself tensing, preparing to lunge forward and bitchslap his hand away _so fast-_

Brittany turned her face to avoid his touch, and I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms to keep myself in check. I hardly felt the pain.

_[Gesii- please don't. Now is not the time-]_

_[If you insist,]_ Gesii said with a roll of his eyes. It was a very human gesture, and I wondered briefly how closely he had been interacting with humans to pick up on the mannerism. _[There will be plenty of time for that later. Come with me.]_

I didn't trust Gesii as he began to lead Brittany away. Not at all. But I trusted Brittany; she'd known him for a long time, and seemed like she knew how to handle him. It still left me with an uncomfortable feeling.

"Britt- wait," I called suddenly. She paused, and I lunged forward, reaching up and cupping her face with both of my hands, then dragged my fingertips slowly down her cheeks. I heard her suck in a sharp breath, her hands sliding to my biceps to grip tightly, and I smirked. If my finger had that much of an effect, what would my lips do? Before she could move from my grasp, I tugged her face down, rolling up onto my toes to press a lingering kiss to her cheek. Her skin felt like soft velvet beneath my lips, and I brushed them down her cheek slowly, letting my breath wash over her skin.

I was completely aware that I was showing off that Brittany was _mine_. I was also completely aware of the holes Gesii's eyes were glaring into me. But fuck him- he needed to understand that no part of Brittany would ever belong to him, in any capacity.

I lowered back down, releasing Brittany's face, pretty certain that I saw her sway on her hooves a little.

_[S-Santana,]_ she stammered in my mind, her thoughts spacey. I smiled sweetly at her.

"Be careful," I breathed.

_[Always,]_ she promised. She gave me a loving look before turning to follow Gesii. I met Gesii's gaze, raising a challenging eyebrow, daring him to cross me. Daring him to laugh at _that_. Brittany hadn't let him kiss her- but she'd basically let _me_ make out with her face. _Hah_.

Gesii gave me a wary look that was definitely not pleased.

It made me smirk.

But as I watched them disappear into the woods together, it didn't stop me from clenching my fists so hard my nails left rivulets in my palm.

I glared at Gesii's retreating back- and didn't miss the other pair of Andalite eyes watching me with interest from the shadows.

* * *

_[I don't like this plan,]_ I complained, pacing back and forth. I was in bull form, and super antsy.

_[Do you ever?]_ Sam countered, rolling his gorilla eyes.

_[We haven't had enough planning,]_ Mercedes admitted guiltily.

_[Or any,]_ Kurt agreed.

Sam let out a low, exasperated huff. _[Guys- we're doing this. It's an easy mission. It's just to see if we can mesh well with those Andalites before we take on my next big plan-]_

_[Which you still haven't told us anything about,]_ Arty pointed out.

_[Soon,]_ Sam promised. _[I'm still working out some of the last-minute, minor details. But once it's ready, I'll fill you all in. For now, let's just focus on this mission, okay?] _

We all mumbled our consent, and then waited for Kurt to give us his signal. He was in his usual position- surveillance. We were stationed at an active train yard, casually waiting for a train to arrive, supposedly- according to Sugar- carrying some kind of Yeerk supplies. I had no idea what kind of supplies Yeerks would need that they couldn't just get via spaceship, but whatever. I don't get paid to make those decisions. As a matter of fact, I don't get paid at all-

Okay, getting off topic here.

Once the train rolled in to the station, we were supposed to swoop in, smash it up, and scramble out. Simple.

After Brittany had used her feminine Andalite wiles to charm Gesii into giving her the information Sam wanted, Sam had flown out to meet Gesii on his own to plan the mission we were currently on, which I thought was a stupid idea, but whatever. Sam was quickly losing his sanity- I already knew that.

This mission was supposed to be a cinch. But somehow the "easy" plans always fucked up the worst, so I really wasn't counting on anything other than the fight of my life.

_[You're waiting for a train,]_ Blaine started in a mysterious voice that sounded suspiciously like-

_[A train that will take you far away,]_ Kurt continued in his own mysterious voice.

_[You know where you hope this train will take you,]_ Blaine said. Ugh, was this really happening?

_[-but you don't know for sure.]_

It was silent for a moment. And then Quinn said, _[But it doesn't matter.]_

_[Oh, wow, I guess you all watched _Inception_ recently.]_

_[Not much else to do,]_ Quinn confirmed.

Obviously pleased with themselves, Kurt and Blaine continued, _[How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?]_

_[Because we'll be together!]_ Mercedes finished, and I rolled my eyes so hard I thought they might fall out of my head.

_[This is like _gay_-ception,]_ I muttered. _[Only it's not a dream.]_

_[Weak,]_ Arty commented, and I gave him a bull glare.

_[Kurt, any sign of the train?]_ Sam asked impatiently, trying to get us back on task. Well. _I_ was on task. Sort of.

_[No sign, Captain. We're still waiting for our train.]_

_[Brittany, what time is it?]_ Sam asked.

_[It is five-oh-three in the evening,]_ Brittany said.

_[Late,]_ I said flatly.

_[Maybe it got stuck in traffic?] _Blaine offered.

_[Was that a joke?]_ Brittany asked, completely serious. I couldn't help but laugh.

_[Yeah,]_ he said sheepishly.

_[Hold up- I think I see the train coming,]_ Kurt called down to us.

_[She'll be com-in 'round the mount-ain when she cooooomes,]_ Mercedes sang.

_[Wanky.]_

_[All right, guys, shut up and focus,]_ Sam snapped, and his angry tone made us all fall quiet quickly.

_[Rude,]_ I mumbled, and Sam shot me a glare. I tried not to let it piss me off- he probably was just tense because we were dealing with Gesii and his minions, and he didn't want them to see how we _actually_ handled missions- you know, by the seat of our pants and all. But still. It was unlike Sam.

We waited, and I could practically feel the tension building around me as the train got closer. Once we heard the squeal indicating the halting of the train, Sam called out a brisk _[Go!]_ and we charged out from our hiding place in the surrounding woods and down to the station.

I wish I had a picture of the people's faces as they witnessed a bull, an elephant, a gorilla, a rhino, a tiger, a wolf, and a purple alien centaur come tearing out of the nearby tree line, because they were incredibly amusing. Perks of the job, I guess.

As we reached the edge of the train platform, it was easy to tell which humans were Controllers and which weren't. The normal humans ran. And since it was broad daylight, and not all of the train crew was infested, there wasn't a Hork-Bajir to be seen.

_[Hit the third car! That's where the alloys will be,]_ Sam commanded as he hustled on his knuckles towards the train.

_[Alloys?]_ I questioned. Dafuq? We were attacking a train for _alloys_?

_[Yeah,]_ Sam answered tightly as he engaged a human-Controller that was aiming a gun at his chest. He swung his fist and the guy hit the ground. The gun went skittering across the pavement. _[Sugar informed me the train is carrying very valuable metal alloys- the Yeerks use them to build weapons, which we definitely don't need.]_

_[Why would they use a _train_ to transport it?]_ I grumbled as I head-butted a human-Controller. He flew back about ten feet.

_[Well, they're limited by primitive human technology,]_ Brittany supplied helpfully from my right. _[They can't exactly use dropshafts.]_

_[What's a dropshaft?]_ Blaine wondered.

_[More importantly- how are we going to destroy metal alloys?]_ Quinn said from the other side of the train. I heard screaming and loud scraping noises, so I assumed she was causing some serious damage.

_[I'm not so much worried about destroying the alloys, so much as I'm worried about destroying the other thing the train is carrying,]_ Sam said in a cold voice. _[Seven hundred Yeerks.]_

_[Well that explains why they are using a train,]_ I said brightly.

"Yaaah!" a guy yelled as he swung a shovel at me. I tossed my head and the shovel snapped in half. The guy blinked at it for a second before he ran. I let him. He definitely wasn't a Controller- just an idiot.

_[Seven hundred Yeerks, and no Hork-Bajir Crips?]_ Quinn growled. _[Somehow I find that hard to believe.]_

_[There will probably be Hork-Bajir soon,]_ Sam said. _[The train alarm has been triggered.]_

_[How do you even know about all this shit?]_ I wondered.

_[Unlike you, _I_ spend my time planning our missions.]_

_I_ spent my time making out with Brittany- but I didn't feel guilty at all, really.

_[Guys, Gesii and his group just showed up,]_ Kurt informed us from the sky.

_[Goody.]_ I tried not to let my anger take over, but the bull was kind of partial to it. I tried to guide my rage into my fighting, but as Gesii snapped his _four-time champion_ tailblade and gruesomely decapitated a human-Controller near Brittany, while subtly flexing his hindquarters for her, I gritted my teeth and furiously stomped my hooves.

Brittany was cringing at him, of course- we really tried not to kill humans, if we could help it- but Gesii didn't seem to have that same sentiment as he stabbed his tailblade through another guy's chest.

_[Jesus, have mercy,]_ Mercedes whispered and for once I was inclined to agree with her. Most of the carnage I'd inflicted was on aliens, so it didn't hit so close to home for me. I could detach myself from it. But watching Gesii cut people apart was really unsettling.

_[Mercedes! To your right! That guy has a Draser!] _Kurt called down frantically.

_[Oh, shit!]_ Arty yelled on her behalf.

I didn't hear the Draser go off, but I did hear Mercedes scream in pain, and I definitely felt the ground shake and heard the loud _boom_ as her elephant body hit the pavement.

_[I got the guy with the Draser,]_ Quinn said a moment later. _[I think. It's so hard to see with these damn-]_

_[Mercedes, are you all right?]_ Blaine called. It was silent for a moment while we waited for her to respond, and then Sam said,

_[Leave her. We will worry about her later. We need to finish what we came for.]_

We all froze in shock.

_[What?]_ Arty demanded.

_[You heard what I said. Everyone meet at the third boxcar; _now_.]_

I left the cowering man I had been about to stomp where he lay and trotted over to the third car. Brittany stepped up gracefully beside me, and Gesii swooped in beside her, an arrogant Andalite smirk on his face that I really wanted to see get introduced to the concrete-

_[Gesii, would you like to do the honors?]_ Sam asked waving his huge hand at the boxcar, which was a dark green and had PASTA spray-painted in big, yellow graffiti letters on the side, which only confused me. Don't get me wrong- I fucking love pasta, I mean, my favorite restaurant is _Breadstix_. But as enthusiastic as I was about pasta myself, somehow I knew it paled in comparison to the love the people who'd tagged that train had for it.

Gesii stepped forward proudly and then motioned for his minion, Shain or whoever, to come forward. Shain planted his hooves and then snapped his hulking, powerful tail, and the screeching, grating noise that erupted from the boxcar as he sliced into it set my teeth on edge.

_[We couldn't have just tried to open it first?]_ I grated as Shain continued to pry the car door open.

Sam gave me a sardonic look. _[Santana, you think the Yeerks would leave seven hundred of their brothers and sisters in an _unlocked_ boxcar?]_

_[First of all, Samuel, the Yeerks don't have sexes, so they can't be brothers _or_ sisters-]_

Sam sighed, obviously irritated.

_[-and second of all, I didn't think the Yeerks would leave seven hundred of their own kind guarded by only human-Controllers, but yet here we are. Still no Hork-Bajir.]_

_[She makes a valid point,]_ Kurt said from his perch on top of the train car. He had fluttered down to witness the unveiling of what was inside. Like it was some big mystery. I mean, Sam had already told us-

_[Holy shit,]_ Arty gasped, and I focused my attention on the inside of the boxcar.

Inside of it was a large- no, _huge_ tank. And inside that tank were seven hundred Yeerks.

Well, okay I didn't _count_ them… but it looked like a lot, and Sam had already told us-

_[What are we going to do with them?]_ Blaine wondered.

_[Kill them,]_ Gesii said nonchalantly. He waved his hand again and Affay-Whatever-Her-Name-Is moved forward this time. She easily leaped into the boxcar and moved around to a small control panel on the side of the tank.

_[Kill them?]_ Blaine echoed, sounding uneasy about it. _[I'm all for killing Yeerks on the battlefield, but these are defenseless-]_

_[This is a war,]_ Sam said harshly. _[It's us against them. Would you rather they have hosts first?]_

_[It just doesn't seem right,]_ Blaine said. _[And if Mercedes were here, she would agree with me-]_

_[Well, she's not,] _Sam snapped.

_[It's okay, Blaine,]_ Kurt placated.

_[Is it, though?]_ Blaine demanded angrily. _[They're sentient, too.]_

_[Oh, here we go,]_ Quinn said with a roll of her rhino eyes. _[Look, Blaine- if we don't kill them now, they will infest more humans. Maybe even your parents. If they wanted to live, they shouldn't have come here.]_

_[Still-]_

_[That's enough. We're done arguing about this,]_ Sam said. He looked at Affay. _[Do it.]_

Affay blinked. _[It's already done. I started the sterilization sequence while you all were arguing.]_

I swallowed. Seven hundred Yeerks were about to be boiled alive. Seven hundred sentient beings were about to be killed simply for existing on Earth.

And I didn't give a single fuck about it.

* * *

_[Well, that's unfortunate,]_ I said as I blinked at Mercedes' still form. She was lying on her side, breathing deeply. Knocked completely out.

As an elephant.

_[We are fucked,]_ Arty agreed from his seat beside me. _[How are we gonna get an elephant out of here?] _

We were literally stumped. After we'd taken care of the Yeerks on the train, we'd come back to see what we could do for Mercedes- which literally turned out to be _nothing_.

_[How long has she been like that?]_ Kurt asked.

_[Approximately twenty-seven minutes_,] Brittany offered. I looked at Sam to see what he was going to suggest. He remained closed-off and stoic, and I felt myself getting frustrated.

_[And how long has she been in that form?] _

_[One hour and fifty-two minutes.]_

_[Shit! She's going to get trapped as a fucking elephant, and there's no way we are going to be able to keep her in the _Batcave_!]_ I said.

_[She won't fit down the lift,]_ Blaine agreed, as if _that_ was the greatest problem Mercedes faced from being trapped as an elephant, and not actually, you know, _being trapped as a fucking elephant_.

We wracked our brains for solutions on how to wake Mercedes up- if only I had a cattle prod, or-

_[Wait! The Draser,]_ I said suddenly.

_[What?]_ Kurt asked.

_[The Draser. When Quinn was shot back at the bowling alley, Rachel did something that revived her. If we can get the Draser, maybe we can-]_

_[On it!]_ Kurt said, flapping away to scour the train yard. Blaine and Arty followed to help search.

_[We're probably _all_ running out of time,]_ Sam said awkwardly. _[Might as well change back.]_ He was already shrinking, his massive shoulders becoming his own broad ones, his black, rubbery lips becoming his own pink, rubbery lips.

I tried not to let my anxiety get the best of me as I focused on changing back to my own hot, loveable self.

_[Found it,]_ Kurt called from the other side of the train yard. _[Blaine's heading back with it, now.]_

"Hurry the fuck up," I muttered, acutely aware of the time. I glanced at Mercedes again, and blinked in surprise when I noticed she was shrinking.

"That was fast," Quinn commented idly.

"That's not the Draser," I said, looking at her. "Rachel had to _touch_ you with it."

_[Her two hours are up,]_ Brittany explained nonchalantly without really explaining anything. Sometimes that really kind of frustrated me. I had just opened my mouth to demand clarification when Arty interrupted me.

"What the hell?" He demanded as he walked up next to Blaine, who was carrying the Draser in his arms like a highly sensitive explosive. I rolled my eyes. "She's shrinking. How is that possible?"

_[I thought you understood that the Draser shot reverts the recipient back to his or her true form?]_ Brittany said, her main eyes wide and surprised. She looked at Blaine, then at me. _[You were both shot as animals, but woke up as humans. What did you think happened?]_

I blinked. "Uh. Well. Shit." I had been so focused on being _alive_ when I woke up that I hadn't even thought about how I had woken up human instead of cheetah.

"I thought my mind automatically focused on changing," Blaine admitted, embarrassed. "So that I wouldn't be trapped."

"Aren't you a special snowflake," I muttered.

Brittany shook her head. _[No. The Draser nullifies the effects of the transforming process.]_

"How does it do that, B?" Quinn asked as Mercedes continued to shrink at a slow pace in the background.

Brittany looked sheepish. _[I am not well-acquainted with the Draser, nor am I an expert on the transforming power, so I can only guess that-]_

_[The transforming power operates by using tiny microbes that act as transmitters to access a Z-space satellite and through the use of DNA encoding, change the genetic make-up of your cells at a rapid pace,]_ Affay stated, stepping closer to us. Gesii looked like he was bored out of his mind and the only reason he was letting Affay talk was to do us a personal favor.

I wanted to punch him.

_[These microbes are controlled by your thoughts- electrochemical charges that tell them which strand of stored DNA to access,]_ she continued without any enthusiasm, like we should probably already know how advanced alien technology works. _[They act as a shield and a liaison between the charges and the cells- they receive the charges instead of the cells, and guide the cells in the transforming process by tricking them into thinking the new DNA is their own. Other components facilitate the speedy change, as well as outside variables, of course.]_

"Of course," I mumbled.

Affay didn't seem to hear me, and if she did, didn't care. She continued on uninterrupted. _[The microbes block the electrochemical charges from the brain for two of your Earth hours at a time, during which they maintain the cell change. However , after the two Earth hours, the microbes exhaust themselves and become locked into place- making the change permanent. Thus, you become trapped in the form. Andalite scientists are still working out how to correct this problem.]_

"What even is she talking about?" I muttered. I looked at Quinn, who was nodding in fascination like she understood every word.

"How does that connect with the Draser, though?" she asked.

Affay looked slightly impressed. [_The- _Draser's_ sole purpose, unlike Andalite shredder technology, is to disrupt the electrochemical charges utilized during the transforming process. The electric shock emitted by the Draser changes the nature of the microbes- instead of becoming locked into place after the two Earth hours, they simply weaken, allowing the electrochemical charges through to the cell, resulting in the cell reverting to its true genetic makeup.]_

"Wow," Blaine said, but one look at his face told me he was probably even more clueless than I was. I only understood about half of what Affay said- I'd probably get Brittany to explain it to me later, if I ran out of paint to watch dry- but a thought occurred to me.

"How come Brittany was still able to transform, even though she'd been Drasered?"

Affay looked at me like I was stupid_. [She's an _estreen_.]_

Uh. Okay. That told me nothing.

_[I was in my natural form, San,]_ Brittany said gently_. [The microbes were not affected.]_

Oh. Right. Well, that made sense then. I _guess_.

"Die, Andalite!" a voice suddenly yelled, and before I could even turn-

FWAPP!

Gesii had taken care of the human Controller with a snap of his tail. The human Controller's body hit the ground.

And then his head did.

I cringed at all the blood, shaking my head and closing my eyes to try and keep my breakfast down.

"Gesii, no offense- but our goal, as humans, is to _preserve_ life," Kurt said, sounding a little nauseous.

_[You can't be serious,]_ Gesii said snootily. He looked from me, to Sam, to Brittany. His main eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. _[This is a war,]_ he sneered. _[You can't possibly hope to preserve every single life. That's naïve.]_

"Not _every_," Arty said. "Just as many as we can."

_[And yet, only _this_ human,]_ he gestured to Blaine, _[objected to the destruction of seven hundred Yeerks on that human-constructed transport. Where was your concern then? Or is it only _human_ life you care about?]_

I swallowed. He was right.

After an awkward pause, Brittany spoke. _[All the same, Gesii, we'd appreciate it if you took our feelings into account.]_

_[_Our_ feelings?]_ Gesii asked incredulously. He shook his head slowly, narrowing his eyes at Brittany. _[It is foolish, but I will try to respect your- feelings.] _

I felt a growl rumbling in my throat, and my hands tightening into fists. How was it that every time Gesii spoke, I hated him more? Did he just call Brittany _foolish_? Oh, hell, no-

"So what do we do with Mercedes?" Kurt asked, breaking the awkward tension that had fallen over us.

"Well- you still have the Draser, right?" Quinn asked.

Blaine nodded, holding it up.

_[Allow me,]_ Affay offered, reaching for it. I tensed, unsure if I trusted her enough to hold such an annoying weapon- but then she was lifting it out of Blaine's arms and pressing it to Mercedes head, and before anyone could protest-

CLICK.

"Yaaah! Woah!" Mercedes yelped, sitting bolt upright and flailing her arms wildly. I snickered.

"Calm down," Kurt said gently, kneeling by her side. "You're all right. Battle's over."

"Oh, Lord Jesus," Mercedes breathed, placing a hand to her forehead. "What the hell happened to me?"

"You were Drasered," Arty offered.

"Sucks, don't it?" I laughed.

Mercedes gave me a look. "Who you tellin'?"

* * *

It was a little later, and we were back under the cover of the trees, when Sam decided the Yeerks hadn't done a good enough job trying to kill us and was instead doing a much better job by giving us a verbal pat on the back.

"Well, I think we learned a lot today," he was saying unnecessarily, and really, his _positive encouragement_ was starting to get on my nerves. I tuned most of his speech out, only tuning back in when he wrapped it up and offered Gesii a tight smile. "I'll contact you when we are ready to move forward with the plan we talked about."

_[Right...]_ Gesii said hesitantly, and I glared at him. His eyes had never left Brittany's lithe form beside me, and between him and Sam, I was really starting to get concerned that Snix might make a- for once- _welcome_ appearance. As if sensing my tension, Brittany shifted closer, taking my hand and lacing our fingers together. It was weird, because she had, like, two extra fingers, but I didn't care- she was holding my hand in front of Gesii. I smirked at him, and he narrowed his eyes at me before turning to leave, motioning for his two lackeys to follow him.

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until I saw Sam glaring at us. It didn't fit his face, not with those trouty lips of his. I raised a challenging eyebrow. "Problems, Sammy?"

Sam narrowed his eyes further. "Don't piss him off-" he started but hold the fuck up-

"Fuck you, Sam," I hissed. "I'm not going to hide my relationship with Britt-"

Kurt laughed, snapping me out of my anger. "Yeah, that _never_ happened."

Sam shook his head, dropping the subject, which was a smart fucking move on his part because I was still fired up and totally ready to unleash Snix at a moment's notice. "Everyone back to Sugar's," he said. "Except Santana. You're coming with me."

I felt as if I'd been slapped. "What?" Why the hell was Sam picking on me?

"Now."

I gave Brittany a bewildered look, reluctantly releasing her hand before I followed Sam a few paces away. He was getting super bossy lately, and I definitely didn't like it.

"Bird form," he snapped, already beginning his change, and I noticed for the first time it wasn't into a pigeon. It was into some type of raptor.

"What is that?" I asked, confused and a little upset. Sam had _always_ been a pigeon.

_[It's a northern goshawk,]_ he said once he finished. He stretched his huge wings and turned his angry, fierce gaze on me. _[I'm done being a pigeon. I'm done being _weak_.] _

Stunned, I shook my head sadly and then focused on my own transformation, feeling slightly troubled.

Sam had changed.

* * *

"Thank y'all for meeting with me," Beiste told us once we were in a secure location. "It's been crazier than a shithouse rat around here."

I blinked. She was speaking English, right? I wished I had a translator chip-

"Thanks for meeting with _us_," Sam said sternly, sounding extremely aloof and professional. _Wow, so genuine, Sammy._ "Your assistance means more than we can say." He gestured to include me in his sentiment, and I nodded slowly, not taking my eyes from the other person in the room with us- a short man dressed in a sharp, black suit. He had black, slightly curly hair that was slicked back, and a huge dimple in his chin. I stared at it for at least five minutes.

Our eyes met, and after a tense moment, I felt like we reached a cautious understanding- we were the same, me and him. Glorified body guards, just making sure our leader was safe. Once I realized that we both wanted the same thing, I stopped worrying and turned back to Sam and Beiste, who were engaged in serious conversation.

"That won't be too much of a problem," Beiste was saying, handing Sam a small box of what I recognized from _Iron Man_ movies (what? No, of course I don't watch those) was probably high-tech explosives. I was suddenly on edge. "You just let me know what else you need and I'll get it fer ya- blow that place wide open and me 'n the boys will take care of the rest." She offered Sam a smile, which he didn't return.

"Once we _blow that place wide open_, it's going to be a shitstorm," he said gravely.

"That's what my part of the plan is for, right?" Beiste asked, waving off Sam's concern. "Once those bastards're on the ground, we'll bring the hammer and give 'em a beating they won't soon forget."

Seriously, what is she talking about, though?

"Look, once the details of this are out, you can't trust _anyone_ with it. If the Yeerks find out it will ruin everything we've worked for- and the element of surprise _cannot be lost_."

Beiste nodded. "I understand, but just-"

"_No_, you _don't_," Sam said viciously, and I was surprised. His hazel eyes were wild as he stared hard at Beiste, who looked taken aback by his tone. "The _only_ way to be certain is by keeping _everyone_ locked up for three days. _Three days_. That's how you'll know. You've got to starve them out."

"Three days?" Beiste shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure I can manage-"

"You _have_ to. Or you're no use to me, and I won't even bother to consider your support," Sam said harshly, shaking his head.

Beiste debated for a moment, then looked at her body guard. "Hey, Henri- you wouldn't happen to know a place, wouldja?"

"A place, Governor?" the man- Henri- clarified.

"Yeah, you know. Somewhere I can take the boys for a little three-day retreat, to be sure they're safe from these aliens."

Henri gave Beiste a stunned look before he answered, "the old abandoned military base, down in Brookfield." He shrugged. "Call it a training exercise."

Beiste chuckled. "I guess we're gonna have to, otherwise Washington'll get suspicious, huh?" She gave Henri a grin which he returned, and then she focused back on Sam. "All right there, son. You've got your answer."

Sam gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes. My stomach clenched. "That's it, then. Gather your men and go into lockdown. Three days, Governor. And then you'll know. _We_ will know." He gestured to me again, and I was getting really tired of being included in Sam's crazy, but I guess I didn't really have a choice, did I?

It really sucks not having a choice.

"We'll contact you at the end of the three days. Until then, our people will be in touch…"

Beiste nodded, they shook hands, Henri smiled…

I just felt my stomach clenching tighter and tighter.

* * *

"Meeting- _now_," Sam snapped to everyone once he and I returned to the Batcave. The others scrambled off the various furniture they were lounging on and made their way to our normal meeting place.

I grabbed Sam's arm before we entered the room, pulling him back and keeping my voice low as I said, "Think _very carefully_ about what you're doing, Sam."

Sam gave me an exasperated look and raised an impatient eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

"You're asking them- _your_ _friends_- to just write off the people they care about."

Sam pulled his arm out of my grasp angrily. "It's a sacrifice we should all be prepared to make."

"But they _aren't_, Sam-"

"_They_ aren't? Or _you_ aren't?" he retorted.

I swallowed. His words hit close to the truth, but I still had to defend my point- because it was valid, because Sam couldn't make decisions on _everyone's_ behalf, because he was asking too much from a group of scared kids- myself included- and we- _I_- just wasn't ready. "I don't have family in the Pool," I said lowly, turning my gaze from his and crossing my arms defensively.

Sam gave me a long, hard look. Like he was trying to figure me out. Or worse- like he didn't care to figure me out. "Santana, I know you don't like this plan-"

"Understatement."

"-but we are doing it. I need you to have some faith in me as a leader. Have I ever led you down the wrong path?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well, our plans have never really gone the way we want them-"

Sam held up his hand to halt me. "That's beyond my control." He took a deep breath, moved his head to catch my eyes, and then spoke slowly. "No one's dead yet, right?" My heart clenched painfully. It was our sort-of mantra, and I hated to doubt him, but he had _changed_-

"No one's dead yet," I admitted begrudgingly. "But, Sam-"

"Santana. Please. They," he waved at the door to indicate the others, "are probably not going to like this plan, either- which is why I need you to support me. If _you_ stand behind my decision, it will ease their worries. They may not trust our _single_ judgment, but when we agree on things together, they do. They will go along with it."

I shook my head. "True, but…" I looked at Sam. His eyes were saying, _trust me_ and normally, I did. Normally I went along with his plans, no matter how crazy, no matter how stupid. But this plan? How could I go along with something that could wipe out my friends' families? How could I pretend everything was fine, talk them into giving up the people they valued the most, when I wasn't willing to do that myself?

Sam's expression flickered, and for a moment I thought I saw the old Sam- the dopey, carefree, mediocre football-player boy he used to be- but just as quickly it was gone, and the hard, detached Sam looked at me with eyes so intense it made my stomach clench.

"Stand with me, Santana." He boldly held out his hand. I looked at it for a moment, my thoughts racing.

Sam had always been there for me. I couldn't walk out on him now. Could I?

But could I stand behind this decision? One that could potentially kill everyone and their families?

Did I have a choice?

I sighed and reluctantly took Sam's hand in mine.

He smiled tightly. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

I returned his cold smile.

It really sucks not having a choice.

* * *

"The new entrance is the hospital," Sam informed us bluntly. "And it's smart. Patients go in for surgery, come out with a Yeerk in their brain."

"Well, that's terrifying," Kurt interjected.

"For real," Quinn muttered. I nodded.

"So what do we do?" Mercedes asked. "We can't just blow up a _hospital_."

Sam looked at Mercedes for a moment. I bit my lip. Of all the people that would object to this plan-

"Well, first- we have to make sure we can get in to the Pool. The next phase of my plan won't work if we can't get in," Sam explained slowly, dodging Mercedes' question.

"And what _is_ the plan?" Arty asked skeptically. I held my breath. No way was Sam going to dodge around this one.

Sam took a deep breath and then just spit it out.

"We are going to blow up the Yeerk Pool."

Mercedes gasped, and then it was eerily silent. Everyone looked shocked and uncomfortable. I tried to keep my expression neutral, like Sam had asked, but it was really hard when the others kept looking at me, waiting for me to say something, to object to the crazy-

And I remained silent.

Once they realized I wasn't going to protest, the panic set in.

"You can't be serious!"

"Sam, how _could_ you- how could you even _think_-"

"No way. There's just no way-"

"ENOUGH," Sam roared, standing up, looking more angry than I'd ever seen him. His fists were tense by his side, and he stared everyone down, coldly. "When you guys decided to make me the leader, you put _me_ in charge. You gave _me_ the responsibility of deciding our missions, and now, suddenly, you don't like something I decide and you want to bail on me? No, _fuck that_."

"To be fair, we never liked _any_ of your missions,"Kurt joked lamely, but it felt forced, and nobody laughed. It was uneasily silent as Sam took a deep breath and composed himself.

"Gesii has already agreed to help us with this mission," he continued after a moment. "We are going down to the hospital, we are going to blow up the Yeerk Pool- and if you have a _fucking problem_ with that, _there's the fucking door_. I'm done with this bullshit. We are not going to win this goddamned war by being boy scouts, okay? But if any of you thinks you can, by all means, take over my position." He looked at each of us. "Anyone?"

I lowered my gaze to the carpet, biting my lip.

"That's what I thought," he snapped. "We leave tomorrow night. Santana." I looked at him. "We're going to need to sneak into the hospital. We can't alert the Yeerks to our presence until we figure out exactly where the entrance to the Pool is. What kind of security is there?"

I shrugged. "I'm assuming the entrance is in one of the restricted areas- where they run lab tests and whatnot. It's all accessed through control panels," I said. "So it's nothing we're not used to."

"Do you have access codes?" Arty asked timidly.

I shook my head. "No- but my father does. He used to complain all the time about it, because they change every two weeks, and they are sent out via email. I'm sure my father is still on the list- he's just on perpetual leave, not fired. Those things take forever to update, anyways."

"All right. Contact him, get those codes," Sam said decisively. "Arty, I want you to help me plan out where to set the explosives Beiste gave me."

"Explosives?" Arty perked up.

"Kurt, you too. I need your surveillance expertise."

"Pretty Pony has _expertise_?" I gasped.

"And Puck," Sam finished, looking at Puck. Puck wagged his tail from where he laid at Quinn's feet. I'd forgotten he was there- he'd been gone for so long, and he'd only been back for a short time; I hadn't gotten used to him being part of the team again before he was trapped. The thought made me sad.

Sam looked me in the eye. "Try and get those codes as soon as possible."

I nodded, a nagging feeling settling into the back of my mind. I couldn't figure out what it was-

_[Sam, if I may point out a flaw in the plan-]_ Brittany started, but Sam held up his hand to silence her.

"No, Brittany. We're doing this."

Brittany nodded, her stalk eyes drooping slightly, and I offered her a sympathetic look.

"We'll meet tomorrow morning to go over the details again," Sam said briskly, and then he was gone, with Arty tailing him excitedly and Kurt and Puck following with caution.

A choked sob made me turn my head, and my stomach froze from the inside out.

Mercedes was curled in a ball on the couch, crying. Quinn was rubbing her back soothingly and murmuring encouraging words to her, but all I could think about was how she must feel.

I looked at Brittany and wondered- what if _she_ changed the way Sam had? I wasn't sure I was a strong enough person to oppose her, as Mercedes had opposed Sam- even if it was for the good of the entire world.

Brittany was my entire world.

* * *

I flicked my tail with anticipation as Sam punched in the codes that would give us access to the restricted areas of the hospital with his thick, gorilla fingers. A tiny chirp announced that the codes had been accepted, and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief as Sam tugged the door open and our huge band of freaks moved through the doorway.

It was late at night, so there was minimal staff at the hospital, and the restricted areas were practically deserted. Most of the lab technicians worked during the day, which was really just fortunate for us.

It turned out getting a hold of my father was easier than I thought, and he didn't even really ask questions when he forwarded me the email containing the codes. I was pretty surprised at how quick and easy the whole thing was, but I wasn't going to complain. I'm sure there was plenty of _slow and miserable_ on its way. Something was still bothering me, but I couldn't figure out what it was, and since I couldn't figure it out, I resolved to not let it bother me, because I'd probably figure it out too late, anyways. That's usually what happened.

Sam led us into the lab, Gesii by his side. They both moved like they were possessed with some insane mission, and obviously they were- and we were all being dragged along for the ride. Sam carried the small box of explosives in one of his huge, black hands. Behind him, Affay moved gracefully, a small gray box strapped around her waist like some kind of sharp-edged fanny pack. I would've laughed if I wasn't a thousand percent sure that doing so would probably result in my death.

We kept moving, systematically searching every lab, until Affay alerted us to the presence of a hologram.

Bingo.

The room appeared normal- but once Affay disabled the controls, the hologram dropped to reveal a freight elevator. It only had a down arrow on it.

_[How did the Yeerks even build this here?]_ Quinn raged. _[God, is there any place they haven't completely taken over?]_

_[This place _does_ have a basement,] _I said. _[I just assumed that would be too obvious-]_

_[Well, you know what assuming does, Santana,] _Arty said haughtily.

_[Yeah- you're an ass.]_

_[No, that's not how-]_

_[Quiet,]_ Sam snapped. He punched the button for the elevator, and we all squeezed inside. I found myself crouching underneath Brittany, slinking between her lean, lavender legs as the elevator creaked and groaned, rumbling downwards at a steady pace. I felt the hairs along my neck and back rising- whether from the sounds squealing in my sensitive cheetah ears, or from the anxiety my human self was feeling, I had no clue.

Finally, the elevator lurched to a stop and the doors opened. We all cautiously peered out into the darkness.

_[It's a room,]_ Sam reported as he knuckle-walked into the darkness.

_[Wow- I would have never guessed. Can you believe it? A room!]_

_[It's huge,]_ Kurt commented.

_[That's what she said,]_ Brittany mumbled nervously, and I barked out a disbelieving laugh. _My girl_.

_[There's another access panel over here,]_ Sam called. _[Seems like-]_ he paused, and I heard him tapping away at it.

_[This isn't the basement,]_ I said_. [This is something else entirely.] _I felt even more nervous. Was this the entrance?

Behind us, the elevator door closed and the sudden screeching of the car moving back up made me worried. Why would it be going back up? Was someone else coming down here? The thought made my mind start panicking. Fuck. What if-

_[This is the entrance,]_ Sam said_. [I'm sure of it. There's a hall, and-]_ he cut off.

_[And what, Sam?]_ Blaine asked. I had a bad feeling. The fur on the back of my neck stood up.

And that's when I saw them- Hork-Bajir. Too many to count.

All of them wearing orange bandanas around their arms.

* * *

Things escalated quickly- obviously. The battle went by in flashes of violence and screaming. For the majority of it, we got our asses handed to us. Gesii and his minions were really the only reason we hadn't died yet- I guess I could give him credit for that. Thankfully, the Yeerks didn't have an endless supply of Hork-Bajir, and after a while we slowly turned the tides.

But definitely our plan was ruined, because the element of surprise? Yeah, it was gone. The Yeerks didn't know _what_ our plan was, though, so maybe-

_[Cut them down!]_ Sam ordered. _[We've got to get inside the Pool!]_

_[Sam, are you fucking _insane_?]_ Kurt yelled.

_[It's done, dude, let it go!]_ Arty agreed.

_[No,]_ Sam said, his voice hard. _[We came here with a job to do. We don't have time to find another entrance to the Pool-]_

_[Macy's?]_ I offered.

_[It's not an entrance anymore,]_ Quinn said. _[We tried that.]_

When? When had they tried that? And where was I? Did I really spend so much time making out with Brittany while Sam was off playing Captain Quantrill?

A sharp blow to my face snapped me out of my thoughts, and I tried to ignore the ensuing argument as the others continued to protest Sam's unwillingness to give up his plan. A Hork-Bajir slashed at me again, and I dodged- but then another one came up from behind me and grabbed me- snatched me up like he was picking up a household cat. I flailed, trying to wriggle out of his grasp but he tightened his hold on me, the blades in his arms digging into my torso, his grip restricting my breathing-

I screamed as the first Hork-Bajir stabbed me in the ribs. I didn't know I would _feel_ him rip open my lungs, because I didn't exactly spend my free time wondering how various things felt, but the intense pain almost made me black out. I tried to take a breath, but it hurt so badly. It felt like a billion sharp knives stabbing into me, and it didn't help, anyways- I wasn't getting any oxygen. It was like trying to blow up a balloon with a huge hole in it. My mind was getting fuzzy. I was wheezing. I felt like I was underwater, like all my senses were blanketed, detached-

I had to transform. I couldn't stay cheetah. I would die. But- no. I couldn't become a human. I would get infested, and then-

I blinked hard, trying to focus. And over the first Hork-Bajir's shoulder- was he still stabbing me? I felt pain in a dull, background sort of way- I spied Gesii. He was standing there. Watching. Watching me-

I struggled weakly. My vision blurred. Was he really going to let me die?

Gesii smiled.

Yes. He was.

_[Ass… hole,]_ I mumbled. I kind of felt like I was floating away.

_[I always win, Santana.]_

FWAPP! FWAPP!

I hit the floor. It hurt in a background sort of way. My chest struggled to expand. I gasped. I couldn't breathe.

Brittany's voice penetrated my mind as my eyes slid closed. _[Santana, transform! _Please_ transform!]_

_[Brittany,]_ I mumbled.

_[Human, Santana! Change back to-]_

She cut off. Somewhere in my mind that bothered me. I tried to do as she said. Human? Okay. I could be human. I could-

I shifted, slowly. And after long moments, I was fully human again. I was so tired. But, no. I couldn't sleep, not yet. I had to change again. I had to-

Sudden pain!

My eyes snapped open as adrenaline flooded my system, and I saw that a Hork-Bajir had collapsed next to me, his knee blade grazing my thigh in the process. I forced myself to sit up, to figure out what was going on, to muster up the strength to change again. I automatically scanned for Brittany, and when I found her, I had to double-check that my lungs weren't still shredded because I suddenly couldn't breathe again.

She was fighting three Hork-Bajir. Which wasn't alarming in and of itself- she'd taken on five before and still held her own- except one of the Hork-Bajir had somehow managed to slip a thin metal cord around Brittany's neck, and he was strangling her_. Strangling her. _

She was cutting into him repeatedly, but she couldn't sever his hands- they were too close to her own throat, and the angle was hard for her to see, even with her stalk eyes. Plus there was two other Hork-Bajir-

Before I could think, I was scrambling to my feet. No time to transform. _No time_-

Brittany staggered, crumpled to the ground. Her tail thrashed feebly. And then she collapsed completely. I felt sick.

I struggled to get up, sliding through blood- I couldn't tell if it was mine, or-

"Brittany!" I screamed. I finally gained some traction and climbed shakily to my feet- my legs were so weak, but I had to-

"UghFF!" I wheezed as something big hit me hard. I went down, landing on my back, the air completely knocked out of me. My eyes were watering and I felt dizzy as my chest expanded, struggling to put oxygen in my lungs. _Brittany_. My sight was bleary, my gaze was darting everywhere, my head was spinning. I tried to focus on lavender nearby. Brittany was still writhing, but feebly- she was going to die. I had to get up. I had to-

"Die, filthy human!" The Hork-Bajir roared. He was dripping dark blood on me- apparently he had already been in a tangle with one of my friends- or maybe even me. No- I would've finished him. I would've-

"Agh!" I cried as his wrist blade jammed into my shoulder, bringing my attention back to him. "Fuck!" He raised his arm again, aiming for my head. I twisted, and this time he cut my forehead open. Deep. I could feel blood gush from the wound, but it was unimportant. I didn't have time for this, I had to get to Brittany. I twisted my head further, trying to find her again- lavender flashed in my vision, her body was slumped on the ground. No. _No_. Panic started to overtake me. I thrashed. Dead? Was she dead? Was she-

I saw a woman- a human-Controller- moving towards her; what? What was she-

She pressed her ear to Brittany's deerlike one, and my eyes grew wide with horror.

"No!" I screamed, struggling in earnest as the Hork-Bajir on top of me made another attempt to slit my throat. _No_. I raised my arms defensively, but there was no way I could really block him- his blades would cut right through my-

WHUMP!

The Hork-Bajir hit the ground beside me, and I briefly spied a snarling wolf- Blaine- as it sank teeth into him. No, not me- _not me_, he was supposed to save-

"Brittany!" I screamed again, rolling over onto my stomach. _This can't be happening_. I called her name again as hot blood seeped down my face, but I didn't care- I could see the Controller woman next to Brittany, grinning in triumph, her facial expression lacking in any sanity. _No_. My heart was pounding. I was in panic mode as I tried wildly to gain my footing, staggering to my feet. My legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds as I took heavy, jerky steps towards Brittany's prone body, towards the Controller-

The host, now free of her Yeerk, slumped to the ground, looking forlorn, and that's when I knew-

"No!" I cried, reaching the height of my panic. I slammed to my knees beside Brittany, wailing, hysterical- I was _hysterical_- as I grabbed desperately at the quickly disappearing tail of the Yeerk in Brittany's ear. It slipped through my fingers-

And then it was gone.

It was inside Brittany.

And I felt like I was falling, like the room was collapsing. My vision blurred, I couldn't see, I couldn't even hear myself screaming, over and over and over-

"No- Brittany- please, NO!"

It took exactly two seconds for me to realize the sudden danger I was in-

And then I felt searing pain as Brittany's tailblade sliced open my throat.

* * *

**D:**

**OH NO. Brittany's a controller?! What's going to happen? How are they gonna get out of this one?! **

**Find out next time, in the heaviest chapter of this entire story! Hopefully the wait won't be so long. I wouldn't do that to you guys. ;)**

**Review if you want to flail or yell at me for this unpleasant twist. But if you'd rather stew in silence, that's okay, too. :)**

**See you next time, pals!**

**Brittana FOREVA! :')**


	36. Torment

**HAH! See? I didn't make you guys wait too long! **

**I wouldn't do that to my precious bbs! :3**

**Thanks all you lovelies who read, reviewed, favorited, followed, stewed in silence or screamed about the last chapter. You're all- well- LOVELY! :D**

**This chapter is so overdramatic, lmao, so I hope you enjoy it. (also, I don't own the Chairlift song, and I don't want to, because FEELS)**

**Happy reading! 8)~**

* * *

I collapsed backward, clutching my neck as blood spurted from it, seeping between my fingers. Brittany hadn't severed it completely- she had cut the side of it, hitting my carotid artery and part of my windpipe, but not my spine- but I would surely die, and _soon_, if I didn't transform quickly. _Again_. I barely had the strength to transform last time-

Brittany screamed in my mind, in triumph and rage, and I shivered. I looked up at her from my sprawled position on the floor, felt myself going into shock. My hands were covered in blood; I was dying. Brittany was a Controller, and I was dying. There was nothing I could do, _nothing_-

_[STOP RESISTING ME,]_ Brittany shrieked, her main eyes glaring at me with so much fury it made my stomach turn. She had _never_ looked at me like that. She had never _looked_ like that. Those were her eyes, but _those weren't her eyes._ Her hatred made me convulse. Or maybe it was the overwhelming feeling of pain making me convulse, who knows? I choked on blood. I was losing it. I needed to transform, but Brittany would-

_[You CAN'T resist me!]_

"I'm not," I gasped- _gurgled_. Was she even talking to me? I looked up into cold, angry blue. It was all I could see. I was blacking out around the edges. I wasn't resisting. I couldn't. I was dying. I felt tears pooling in my eyes. _Brittany_-

I choked again. Brittany's body was shaking violently. Her tail was hovering in midair, above me, her blade aimed at my head. Was the real Brittany resisting? Was _she_ the only reason I wasn't dead, the reason the Yeerk had missed?

Oh, God, Brittany was a Controller-

I heaved out a sob, my tears finally spilling from my eyes. This was it. We lost. And our worst fear- _my_ worst fear- came true. Brittany was a Controller, and I was helpless to stop her. If I tried to transform, she'd kill me- wouldn't she?

"Britt…"

Brittany's Yeerk laughed in my mind. _[She's powerless to resist me; powerless! She's in here _begging_. Begging me not to _kill you_.] _Brittany's Yeerk sneered, and I felt myself shaking- with anger, with shock, with emotion.

I tried to think of something to say, but all I could do was feel my own heart shattering in my chest, feel my life draining away. What could I do? What could I-

_[Santana! Transform!]_ Mercedes called from very close by.

Transform? I couldn't transform, not if-

Oh.

I tried to focus on something, anything- a ladybug, maybe. Brittany couldn't kill me if I was tiny, right? Maybe if I-

I began to shrink, slowly- my vision cleared and then dimmed into the weird vision of the ladybug. But before it did, I saw a gorilla and a bear tackle Brittany to the ground.

* * *

Once I was fully human again, and completely exhausted, I advanced on a struggling Brittany. Sam and Mercedes had her pinned to the floor. Quinn was sitting regally on Brittany's tail, looking like an albino version of King Moonracer, minus the wings. Brittany kicked her hooves, but she was completely immobilized. She cursed in _Galard_, screamed and thrashed, but it was no use. Sam, Mercedes and Quinn had her trapped.

I looked into her eyes- her icy, unkind eyes- and felt a shiver roll down my spine.

And then, Brittany began to change.

She started growing, her skin turning black and rough, like tarpaper.

_[She's transforming!]_ Mercedes cried.

Oh, fuck. Even _I_ didn't know the arsenal of forms Brittany had at her disposal. What were we gonna do? She could be _anything_-

FWAPP!

I looked up to see Affay standing nearby, a pitiful expression on her face. _[Not anymore,]_ she said coldly as Brittany slumped back down, unconscious. Affay continued to stare at Brittany intensely, and after a moment, Brittany's transforming process began to reverse- she shrank back down to normal and her skin reverted to the smoothness it normally was. I watched, dumbfounded, but had too much shit running through my mind to worry about how that was possible. I'd ask Brittany later.

My heart clenched. If there _was_ a later.

I bit my lip. No- _there would be_. I would make _sure_ of it.

_[That was close,] _Sam said, sounding stressed the fuck out_. [We barely made it through this battle, and Brittany-]_

_[What do we do with her?]_ Quinn demanded. _[We're down here in Hell's Basement, and we're still in the middle of the mission.]_

"You can't possibly want to continue on with that," I snarled, glaring at Sam. "The Yeerks _know_ we're here. They _will_ be expecting us. Don't put us in a position to get killed."

Sam hesitated, but he knew me. He knew that Brittany would always be my first priority, and that if he didn't have my support, the others wouldn't support him, either- and especially wouldn't abandon Brittany to do so. He shook his gorilla head. _[No. You're right. We need to escape. We need to get Brittany somewhere safe where we can hold her for the three days.]_

_[We can't carry her out through the hospital,]_ Quinn pointed out. _[That's too obvious, it'll draw too much attention. She's going to have to stay here, somewhere.]_

_[Do you know a place where we can lock her up?]_ Mercedes asked.

"You mean is there a fucking _jail cell_ at a _hospital_?" I snapped. Were these people crazy? We weren't in a prison!

_[Not a jail cell,]_ Quinn said. _[Just somewhere secure. Like a medicine closet, or-]_

"Come on." I rolled my eyes. "A closet?"

_[You mentioned a basement,]_ Sam pointed out suddenly. _[Earlier. When we first got here. What is it used for?]_

"Sam, I could hug you," I said, my mind racing. Maybe this would work- "It's used for storing old medical equipment. But there's a pretty heavy-duty steel room down there that they built for the storage of HAZMAT stuff. It never gets used now because of the new HAZMAT procedures in place, you know, when the-"

_[Sounds perfect. How far is it from here?]_ Mercedes asked, gently interrupting my ramble, and I'd never been more grateful to be cut off.

I shook my head. "Probably not far. We'd just need to go back upstairs, and-"

_[Why are we delaying?] _Gesii demanded, trotting up angrily. I guess he'd finished off the last of the Yeerk resistance for us, but I could care less. My eyes blazed as I looked at him, and he froze on the spot when he saw me, looking a little fearful.

"_You_ get the fuck _away from here_," I hissed, balling my fists.

_[Woah-]_ Sam started.

I stabbed my finger at Gesii. "The only reason I'm not transforming and ripping your ass to _shreds_ is because Brittany is more important to me. But _don't fucking tempt me_."

_[Gesii, it's probably best if you go,]_ Mercedes offered gently.

Gesii looked miffed that my friends were choosing me over him. But why wouldn't they? He was an outsider. Not like me. Not like Brittany. He looked at Sam. So did I. Would _he_ choose Gesii? Or us?

Sam swallowed, and then nodded his head. _[The plan's done for now, Gesii. We've been ambushed. We'll have to regroup later, but taking care of Brittany is more important now. She's- done more for us than any of us will ever be able to repay her for.]_

Gesii narrowed his eyes. _[Understood.]_ He glanced down indifferently at Brittany's sprawled, unconscious body, and I felt rage overtaking me. It was basically _his_ fault that Brittany had become a Controller- if he had just stepped in to help me out instead of being a petty _dick_, Brittany wouldn't have been distracted by the sudden appearance of my entrails. He was supposed to be her match- or at the very least, her _friend_- and he was looking at her like he didn't give two fucks about her condition. And _this_ was the douchebag the Andalites wanted Brittany to marry? _Over my fucking dead body._ _[Perhaps we could offer our assistance in guiding her to a safer location?]_

"No," I seethed.

Sam looked like he'd been about to agree with Gesii, but at my heated refusal, he shook his head. _[That won't be necessary. Just get out safely. We'll contact you soon.]_

Gesii remained silent, but I could see him tense at being dismissed. He motioned for his minions to follow him and then he was gone. Good.

A hand on my shoulder made me jump and whirl angrily, and I was met with Quinn's concerned hazel eyes. I hadn't realized I'd been shaking until she touched me. I hadn't even realized she'd transformed back. When she spoke, it was soft and reassuring. "It's gonna be okay, Santana."

I nodded, but her words didn't penetrate the haze of anger, hurt, and sadness that had taken me over. Brittany was a Controller-

And nothing was ever gonna be _okay_ again.

* * *

We managed to get Brittany down to the basement. Sam carried her with the help of Arty and Mercedes. On the way I took a small detour, careful to avoid being seen, and snatched some sedatives, just in case. I had no idea if they would work on Brittany- I could only hope that her body composition was close enough to a human's that they could at least buy me some time in an emergency.

Quinn kept her steady hand on my shoulder the whole way. I hadn't stopped shaking, but at least her touch was keeping me from losing it too badly. She kept reassuring me with comforting words, and I tried to trick myself into believing her. Quinn had been a Controller, and she was all right- right? But Brittany- Brittany was so different from Sam, or Quinn.

"Q- was it better for you to- to be doped up?" I asked, a violent tremor running through me.

"It helped pass the time, although it didn't really affect the Yeerk too much. He was still able to talk to me and rifle through my brain, although I didn't know it."

I nodded. I could try and keep Brittany unconscious the entire time, but- would it be better for her, not having to deal with the Yeerk? Could I even keep her unconscious the _whole time_? At some point, she would wake up-

Another tremor hit me and I crossed my arms tightly across my chest.

Once we got to the basement, we were faced with a problem- what were we going to do about Brittany's transforming? We had no idea what kind of forms Brittany had at her disposal. We had to keep her from transforming, somehow. Otherwise she could turn into something like the _Kaftid_ and just shoot molten acid at the steel door until she could escape. Or change into a microscopic bug or an amoeba or something-

The thought made me remember my conversation with Brittany on our date at _Breadstix_, back before everything fell apart, and I felt tears springing to my eyes; I bit my lip.

Oh, God, what if I had to _kill_ Brittany? We couldn't let her escape-

_[This should hold her until Kurt can come back,] _Sam was saying, bringing me out of my unwelcome thoughts. _[You're just going to have to keep her unconscious until then.]_

I shook my head, dazed. "Wha- why-"

"The bracelet," Quinn told me softly, rubbing a soothing hand on my back. It wasn't Brittany's touch, but it still calmed me a little. "The one we took from Puck when we rescued him? We still have it. Kurt went to get it, and he's bringing it back here. It should stop Brittany from transforming."

I nodded, not really processing her words. Not really processing _anything_. I looked at Brittany- she was lying on her stomach, her front legs stretched out in front of her, her back legs tucked to the side. Her torso was slumped forward a little, her chin tucked to her chest and her stalk eyes drooping. Her wrists were tied behind her back with some zip-ties we had found, and Sam had used a combination of rope, zip-ties, and thick metal wire to secure Brittany's tail to the iron shelving that was welded to the wall. She wasn't going anywhere.

"I still think we should cut it off," I heard Arty murmur quietly. And that's when I lost it.

"Are you fucking _insane_?" I hissed. "She would die of blood loss in minutes!"

"So we could tie a tourniquet or something-"

"You're not fucking _touching_ her!" I yelled, stepping forward to get in his face.

"Santana, calm down," Quinn said gently, placing her hands on my shoulders and holding me back. "It's okay. No one's going to hurt Brittany." She gave Arty a pointed look and pulled me against her, tucking my face into her neck and rubbing a soothing hand on my back while I sucked in a shuddering breath and tried not to cry- tried not to show weakness in front of the others. I took several more breaths as my heart rate slowed down a little.

"You smell good," I mumbled.

Quinn looked at me incredulously.

"Like- my abuela."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I can see you're coming back to your senses." She didn't push me away, though. I was grateful.

* * *

"This couldn't have come at a worse time," Sam muttered, having made the change back to his normal, guppy-lipped self. "We are short on time. Beiste and her reinforcements are set to go into lockdown tomorrow, for the three days. After which, we need to act quickly. I've got to meet back up with Gesii and-"

He went on, but I tuned him out. I was sitting on the floor, across from Brittany, just out of arm's reach. I stared at her, my eyes tracing over the various cuts and bruises that littered her body. She hadn't been able to transform and heal herself from the battle we'd just been in, so she was still sporting too many fresh wounds. Her neck looked awful- black splotches made a dark ring around it, and I shivered as the memory of her being strangled replayed in my mind. I lifted my gaze to her face. I'd seen her sleep before- she should've looked peaceful. Instead, she looked conflicted, pained. Her eyes were squeezed shut. Was she awake in there? Was the Yeerk torturing her with her memories? I knew Brittany had excruciating ones. The idea made me cringe. What if-

"Santana, will you be all right?"

I blinked, looking at Sam. "Huh?"

Sam sighed, looking guilty. "I need everyone on the mission. We've got to find a new way into the Yeerk Pool. I need you, too, but- I know you won't leave Brittany. And you shouldn't. But- I can't really spare anyone to stay down here with you."

"I'll stay with her," Quinn offered. "You can't possibly need us all that badly. It's a stealth mission, anyways."

I shook my head slowly, in a daze. "No- I will be all right." I swallowed hard. Was that my voice? I didn't recognize it- it sounded empty, hollow.

"Are you sure?" Mercedes asked, crouching to put a gentle hand on my shoulder. I nodded, not taking my eyes from Brittany's form, wishing I could take away her pain-

Sam sighed again. "Look, I know it's not the best time to remind you-"

"Then _don't_," Quinn snapped defensively.

Sam frowned. "I have to. Santana, if Brittany escapes, we _will_ have to stop her before she can get back to the Yeerks. She knows too much about our plan-"

"I get it," I said weakly. I didn't have the strength to fight him anymore. I was too sad, too exhausted. Too drained, emotionally and physically. I just wanted to crawl into my bed and sleep- but I had to be Brittany's sentinel. I had to wait this out with her. I only hoped that the Yeerk hadn't been at the beginning of its feeding cycle. I wasn't sure I could keep Brittany completely unconscious for three days.

"Kurt will be back soon," Blaine reminded. I nodded to show that I'd heard him, but honestly, I didn't care. I felt lost. I wasn't sure what to do. Everything felt like it was ending, and in a way, it kind of was, wasn't it?

It was silent for a moment. I guess they were waiting for me to change my mind, or to freak out, or do something. But I just sat quiet and still, staring at Brittany. And after a few moments, I heard them shuffle to the door and then leave, talking in quick, hushed voices.

I took a deep, shaky breath.

I was alone with Brittany.

I let my eyes trace over her delicate features again, and wondered if this was all some horrible dream; wondered if I was going to wake up any minute in Brittany's arms, safe-

Her front leg kicked suddenly, and I froze, my stomach clenching in cold fear. _Shit_. Was she waking up? Her shoulder twitched uncomfortably from being restrained in an unnatural position- _sorry, baby_- and I winced on her behalf, wishing I didn't have to keep her tied up, but-

Her eyelids fluttered open, and her hard gaze fell immediately to me.

I panicked, terrified. I was supposed to be keeping Brittany unconscious! If she was awake, that meant she could transform, and it meant the Yeerk could torture Brittany, _my_ Brittany- I scrambled up from my seated position and did the only thing I could think of to do-

I struck her as hard as I could on the sensitive part of her head with a metal rod.

The force knocked her onto her side, and her shoulder hit the ground, but she stayed there. Panting, I scanned her body for any signs of life- but she was silent and motionless. I could hear her shallow breathing, so I knew she wasn't dead. But she was definitely knocked out again. I let out a relieved breath as tears began to pool in my eyes.

"Fuck," I whimpered, settling back down, letting the metal rod drop beside me. I hugged my knees and rocked myself back and forth- that worked in movies, right?- as I felt sobs overtaking my body. I was frustrated, angry, and unspeakably sad. "I told you not to do this again," I choked. I was overcome with the desire to lift Brittany's head from the hard, cement floor, to hold her- but I couldn't. I _couldn't_. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of those thoughts. "I told you not to risk your life to save me."

I looked at Brittany. I reached up to angrily swipe my tears away.

This was going to be so much harder than I thought.

* * *

[_Santana, open the door!]_

I startled awake. My first instinct was to snatch up the metal rod at my side. My second instinct was to look for Brittany- she was still slumped in the same position I'd left her in, completely unconscious.

Shit. How long had I been asleep? I shook my head, angry at myself. What if Brittany had gained consciousness while I was asleep? She could've transformed, and-

_[Santana!]_

I rolled my eyes at Kurt's voice, standing up to walk to the steel door. I opened it and was met by the sight of two wolves- Kurt and Arty. Kurt had the small fanny pack hooked around his torso that Sam had worn when we'd given Arty the transforming power.

I stood aside to let them in, and Kurt paused to give the metal rod I was holding a curious, wolfy glance.

_[Gonna do some damage with that?]_ he asked wryly as he trotted in.

"Shut up," I muttered. I looked at the rod. It seemed to be broken from a piece of medical equipment, like a cart handle or-

_[We brought the bracelet,]_ Kurt informed me, already changing back to human. I nodded silently, not taking my eyes from Brittany. Kurt thankfully didn't make any comments on her slumped-over position. "And being wolves really helped us sneak in better- we could smell when people were nearby, and the hearing was excellent, too. Definitely more useful than trying to come in as ourselves- right, Arty?"

Arty didn't say anything, but gave a tight nod as he unzipped the pack that was still around Kurt's chest. I watched like a hawk as he carefully fastened the bracelet to Brittany's slim wrist, just above her tight, plastic bonds. When he was finished, he stepped back, admiring his handiwork.

"That should keep her from transforming," Kurt said. "It worked wonders on Puck."

"Brittany's an _estreen_," I muttered. That seemed to be the excuse everyone gave for why she was so extraordinary, so why shouldn't I give the same one?

"That may be so, but the bracelet should still work," Kurt said, offering me a small smile. "Even for an _estreen_. It has something to do with the microbe energy or, I don't know, Sugar said it would work, so…"

I tried to return Kurt's smile, but there wasn't a single part of me that felt like smiling. Instead I just ended up looking at him blankly, like a crazy person.

"Hey," Kurt said softly. "Are you sure you don't want company?"

I shook my head, silent. Steely. _No_. I didn't want company. What good would they do? If Brittany was being punished, then it was my job to be there for her- I didn't need any distractions.

Brittany didn't get any distractions.

Kurt was quiet for a moment; then he sighed. "I understand you need to be alone. Just- let us know if you need anything, okay?" He put his hand on my shoulder. "We're all here for you, _and_ for Brittany. We're your friends. And it's okay to have help, you know?"

When I didn't respond, he removed his hand. "Arty- let's go." They shuffled to the door. "Bye, Santana." I heard the door open and close, and I was once again completely alone with an unconscious Brittany.

* * *

Somehow, I fell asleep. With Brittany unable to transform, it was a little bit safer for me to do so, but I still felt guilty for leaving her alone with her Yeerk. Especially because when I woke up, she was watching me. She had managed to sit up into her original position, and she was wriggling her shoulders, tugging at her bonds- but Sam had made it impossible for her to move a single muscle in her tail. She was helpless.

I had no idea how much time had already passed, nor did I know how long Brittany's Yeerk had before it would die- but before I knocked Brittany out again, I decided to try and find out. Maybe I could convince it to leave, maybe-

_[You're awake,]_ Brittany said softly, and the sound of her voice made me feel weak, made my stomach tighten. I clenched my jaw. _It's not Brittany_, I reminded myself.

"So are you," I answered coolly, impressed that my voice didn't waver.

She smiled her Andalite smile at me, and I felt my heart skip a beat. She looked just like herself, just like-

_It's not Brittany._

_[The Yeerk left,]_ Brittany said. _[You can untie me.]_

I laughed humorlessly. "Yeerk- are we gonna play these games?" I shook my head. I remembered when Sam had been infested, all those many, many months ago- his Yeerk had tried the same thing: to trick us into thinking Sam wasn't infested. But there was no way. Even if it _had_ left, Brittany would want me to hold her for the three days to make sure.

The Yeerk in Brittany's head seemed to instantly realize that, because it dropped its façade immediately. It glared at me through Brittany's eyes, leaning her body forward as far as it could through her restraints, trying to intimidate me. _[Untie me, and I promise I will make your death as painless as possible.]_

I returned Brittany's glare, feeling myself grow angry; _who the fuck_- "Untie you? And then, _what_? Let you keep Brittany? Now what are the chances of me agreeing to that?"

_[If you were-]_

"No, how about you shut the fuck up. You aren't in any position to make demands," I snarled. "But you _are_ in a position to accept one."

Brittany tilted her head, her eyes narrowed. She laughed, as if listening to me would be amusing to her. _[And what did you have in mind, human?]_

I put on my best game face, steadied my voice, and sold it. "If you leave Brittany now, I promise I won't kill you. I'll put you in a jar- in a sterilized medical container- and I'll leave you somewhere where your comrades can find you." I shrugged. "That's your only option."

_[Do you think me a fool?]_

"Well, you obviously think that by staying in Brittany, you have a chance at life, but I _promise_ you-" I lowered my voice to a deadly tone, "I'd sooner kill Brittany _myself_ than let you escape with her. You _will die_ if you choose to remain in her head. The only chance you have at survival is to leave- _now_."

Brittany smiled a sinister smile. I didn't even know she was capable of looking so wicked, but it sent a shiver down my spine. _Was_ she capable? Or was it the Yeerk's persona surfacing through her? _[It's funny, but Britta-Nysp-Ierce- Brittany, as you call her- seems to believe in your trustworthiness, in your honorability. She thinks you would uphold your word.]_

I nodded. "She's-"

_[But I know better. I've seen what humans are capable of. I've been inside many humans, Santana. They are greedy, selfish, spiteful liars. And you are no different. Brittany may be an intrinsically good Andalite- but you? You're a wicked, conniving, awful human.]_

I shrugged, trying not to let the Yeerk's words affect me- especially since they were spoken with Brittany's thought-speak voice, tricking my mind into thinking they were _Brittany's_ words. It reminded me too much of dreams I'd had, of my own self-doubt, and I couldn't afford to show weakness right now. "And here I thought I was being _generous_, offering you a chance at life and all."

Brittany scoffed. _[All lies.]_

I glared at her. "You know what's _not_ a lie, though?" I hissed. "The fugue. And it's coming for you, Yeerk, the longer you stay in Brittany's body, because _you will not escape_. I'll _die_ first."

_[I'd be happy to help.]_

"Oh, I'm sure you would."

_[Which is better? A chance of escape if I stay in Brittany's body? Or instant death the moment I exit, because you will surely not uphold your word.]_

"If you'd rather die when you exit, I can arrange that as well. I'll make it as quick and painless as possible, Yeerk."

Brittany laughed bitterly, shaking her head. _[You really do think I'm a fool.]_

"Yes, I do," I said venomously. "Only a fool would choose to die a slow and painful death from starvation over a quick one, or even the possible chance at life. I've witnessed two fugues during this war. I know you've seen Brittany's memories, so you know it's true. I'm sure you've heard what it's like- the intense pangs of hunger, the delusions, and most of all, the _pain_. It's agony; the worst kind. I sure as hell wouldn't want to endure it. In fact-"

_[You want to share painful memories?]_ Brittany seethed. _[How about this-]_

"Wha-"

I had just enough time to suck in a breath before I was drowning.

* * *

_[Mother, look!] I said excitedly, hurrying over to where she was recording some information on a specific type of plant. She swiveled a stalk eye to me, not taking her attention from the small cylinder in her hand- a holographic recorder- and I lifted my hand up to show her the tiny creature- called a Hoober- in my palm. [It came to me when I called it!]_

_Mother smiled, but I could tell it wasn't genuine. She made a sad noise in my head and set the recorder down before turning her full attention to me. [If only you were this enthusiastic about your studies,] she said disappointedly. I felt my hearts clenching, and I bent to set the Hoober on the ground. It blinked up at me with its huge eyes before it bounced away on its tentacles. [Why can't you care about science as much as you care about these insignificant creatures?]_

_My stalk eyes drooped. [They aren't insignificant. Hoobers are important to the life cycles of-]_

_ [I know all about Hoobers, Britta-Nysp-Ierce,] Mother said firmly. [I just don't understand why you spend all your time meddling with them instead of focusing on important things. The war with the Yeerks is no closer to being resolved, you know.]_

_ I sighed. [I know…] _

_ Mother looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn't. She studied me for a long moment before raising her eyes skyward. [Come- it's time for the evening ritual.]_

_ I followed her in silence, bitterly wondering why I bothered to show her my discoveries. I'd been practicing calling to the Hoobers for a long time, and finally today one responded to my call. What should have made me happy instead made me sad, left me feeling empty. Mother did not appreciate my natural talent, and instead wished that I had discovered different talents. _

_Obviously she wished I was my younger sister. The thought saddened me. Estrif was a great sister, but she had joined the military early, as soon as she was of age. She was currently training on my father's Dome Ship, learning to master the transforming power so that she would be useful as a spy. My parents had always been proud of her, because she'd never wanted to do anything except follow in their hoofprints. They hadn't wasted an opportunity to inform me that they wished I'd made the same decision she had. _

_ After we performed the evening ritual as a family, since it was a rare occasion when Father and Estrif were home on leave, Estrif went to meet a male friend of hers, and my parents pulled me aside. I could sense what was coming- I also knew that I wouldn't like it. My hearts pounded with anticipation as Father smiled gently at me._

_ [Britta, you are getting older,] he began softly. [Your mother and I- well, we think, with the war expanding, it would be best for you to join the military. Like your sister.]_

_ [And your father has managed to arrange it so that you will be going with him, when his leave is up,] Mother said excitedly. [Maybe you might even train as an aristh on his Dome Ship- just like Estrif! Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful?]_

_ I looked at Mother, then Father. [But- I'm not a fighter-] _

_My father chuckled. [There's so much more to the military than fighting, dear one. Warriors are well-rounded in the sciences and arts now. Look at Estrif-] I cringed at the mention of my sister again. Was it so wrong for me to want to be my own person? [She's taken an interest in espionage, and you like animals, don't you?] _

_I hesitated. [Yes- I would love to be a morph dancer,] I said sadly. I'm sure I looked pitiful, but I couldn't help it. I knew this day was coming, and especially with how militaristic my parents were and how successful Estrif was in Academy, it was only a matter of time-_

_[Britta-kala, there will be no morph dancing if we don't make amends for our mistakes and stop the Yeerks' expansion into the universe,] Mother said firmly. [It's up to each Andalite to take up his or her duty and serve the people. And since you have no proclivity for science, though I've tried and tried to guide you, then your calling must be as a warrior.]_

_[But-]_

_[No excuses,] Father said, his tone harsh. It made me cower a little. He didn't usually get so angry, but he had snapped into War-Prince mode- [You're joining the Fleet. I've secured a place for you in the Academy. You'll be training under a great Andalite. Maybe she will help you where we have failed… maybe she will find a use for you.] _

_I felt as if I'd been struck in the chest. Father thought I was useless- _

_[Don't mess this up,] Mother agreed. [This is a great opportunity for you. I mean- what else are you going to do, Britta? You have to start thinking of the future…]_

_I tried not to let their words hurt me, but they still did. I was useless. I was useless, and if I didn't join the military, I had no future, nothing. I was expendable. _

_[Don't worry, dear one. This is what's best for you.]_

* * *

_The flicker of my holocube taunted me from beneath the surface of the water. I peered down into the lake, wondering if I could get it out before my mentor found me. I was already late to my training session, but upon entering my small, cramped quarters, I'd discovered that they'd been hacked into, and my personal belongings had been taken. My search had lead me to the Great Dome, where I'd discovered them at the bottom of the small, shallow lake there. _

_ How was I going to get them out? They wouldn't be damaged- I hoped- but-_

_ I splashed into the water, submerged to my knees. The water didn't get deeper, but I was still a few lengths away-_

_ [Aristh Britta-Nysp-Ierce! What in yaolin are you doing?!]_

_ I cringed as the thought-speak voice of my instructor, Hagberg (as the rest of the arisths on the ship called her- she had never introduced herself, and it was kind of an unspoken rule to never address her as such) penetrated my mind. I turned abruptly and powered out of the water, standing at sharp attention, dripping wet. _

_ She was an old, old Andalite- I'd heard she'd been one of the first females into the Academy, ever. Now she spent her days terrorizing young arisths, and, unfortunately, she was my mentor during my training on the Dome Ship, Carlisle. _

_ [I- I dropped-]_

_ [You are late,] Hagberg practically sneered, and I leaned back as she got in my face, her main eyes narrowing, glaring into mine. [You will never succeed in the military if you don't learn some discipline, aristh.] She looked over my shoulder and I turned one stalk eye to follow her gaze. I closed my main eyes in defeat as I clearly saw my holocube, still shining on the bottom of the very shallow lake. Which meant Hagberg saw it, too. She glared. [Stop being so careless. You need to get your head out of the clouds and quit your useless daydreaming. There is no place for it on this ship. We are at war, Britta- you are going to get yourself or someone else killed.] _

_ She cracked her tail threateningly, and then turned, storming away._

_[Consider your lesson for today cancelled. Be on time tomorrow, or so help me, I'll have you ejected out into Z-space.]_

_I mumbled a response so she would know I heard her, and watched her go, trying to withhold my tears. Why did everyone think I was useless? I couldn't do anything right, could I? I didn't think Hagberg would eject me into Z-space, but she might kick me off the ship- and then what would I do? What would I tell my parents? They already thought I was hopeless-_

_ The sound of laughter drew my attention, and I looked over to an orange Derrishoul tree. Dafydd-Karof-Scee and two other male Andalites I didn't recognize were standing around it, looking at me with amusement. _

_[Hey vecisth, you drop something?] Dafydd called. He looked at the other two Andalites, who laughed nastily. _

_I tensed. How would they know my stuff was in the lake? Unless- _

_I turned to face them fully, straightening up. [Why do you feel the need to make my life miserable?] I demanded, trying to sound tough, but I was still hurting from the scolding Hagberg had given me, and my voice came out sad and pathetic. _

_[Because you don't belong here,] one of the Andalites I didn't know sneered. His fist clenched by his side, and I wondered what I had did to them to make them hate me. I'd never even spoken to them before. _

_[Someday, someone is going to depend on you,] Dafydd agreed, answering my unspoken question. [And you'll get them killed. You're too stupid to be good at anything. You're a waste of space.]_

* * *

"Stop," I choked, gasping. I felt sick, my stomach twisting. My heart felt heavy, pained with sorrow from Brittany's unwillingly-shared memories-

_[Hah!]_ Brittany's Yeerk sneered. _[This is the best part!]_

"No-"

* * *

_[Congratulations, E.S.,] Captain Adler greeted me with a stern smile as I finally made it onto the bridge. I smiled slowly at her positivity- she was one of the few female Captains in the Andalite military, and I was extremely fortunate to be serving under her. She was smart, and she'd done so much damage to the Yeerks-_

_[Captain Adler,] I returned formally. Everyone was looking at me. I held my head up high. I'd finally done something right, for a change. It felt good to prove to the hundreds of Andalites on my ship that I wasn't useless, that I was worthy of my E. S. title. _

_ The Captain had tasked me with investigating the dominant species that inhabited the planet we were currently in orbit around. We had received word from the Fleet two weeks ago that the Yeerks were making a move on them, and our Dome Ship immediately set a course through Z-space to investigate. Once we'd reached a safe distance from the planet- avoiding Yeerk sensors and therefore, detection- I'd boarded a small transport ship to make the trip down to the surface and discover what made the aliens desirable as hosts. It was my first mission since I'd gotten out of E.S. training, and I was nervous and anxious to prove myself. I knew I could accomplish the task I'd been given, if only-_

_It had taken me less than three days, the fastest any E.S. had ever returned. During that time I had interacted with several of the aliens and earned their trust through transforming, and my own special talent which had earned me my title to begin with. I'd finally done it- I'd finally contributed to my people, and to the war. I was ecstatic. _

_ Once I'd gotten the information, I relayed it to the Captain and made the trip back to the Dome Ship (I had been reassigned to the Azimio once I'd finished training) awaiting further orders. Now it was the next day, and the Captain had called me to the bridge to congratulate me- which meant that my information was a success. I was happier than I'd ever been- I'd never been more proud of myself. I couldn't wait to tell Mother and Father- and even Estrif, if I could get a transmission out to her section of the galaxy. She was starting a new mission, too. And my friends down on the surface of the planet, they would certainly be happy for me once I told them-_

_ [Computer- transparent,] the Captain ordered, and suddenly the entire front of the ship was clear, showing the planet looming before us. [Magnify.]_

_ The screen zoomed in, and I felt my legs buckle. It was suddenly much, much harder to breathe, and it seemed like the walls of the bridge were closing in on me. _

_ [The Anati situation has been contained,] the T.O. said, satisfied, from the Captain's right. I barely heard him. My hearts were pounding. _

_ No._

_ [Yeerk forces showing a loss of 62%,] someone else said._

_ All four of my eyes were glued to the horror depicted on the viewscreen._

_ No, no, no. _

_ It was burning. All of it. The tall, tall mounds of a colorful, gelatinous substance- fuürsnât they called it, the lifesource of the Anati- completely destroyed by Andalite shredder fire on full power. Burning. Everything was in flames, everything. The entire surface of the planet, every Anati bwebi, my friends, all those innocent, trusting lives were-_

_ [It's all thanks to your intel, E.S. Britta-Nysp-Ierce,] Captain Adler congratulated. I felt dizzy, sick. My head was spinning. [The Yeerks will not take this species- will not strengthen their forces- because of you.]_

_ I swayed._

_ Because of me._

_ Because of me. _

_ The Yeerks wouldn't take the Anati, because they were all dead- all completely destroyed._

_ Because of me._

* * *

My eyes snapped suddenly back into focus- I was once again down in the dark hospital basement. Seconds later I was bending to throw up, the force of guilt and nausea from Brittany's memories making me react violently. I heaved, shaking, my stomach twisting painfully, my chest feeling like it was being ripped apart. Tears leaked from my eyes- Brittany's? Or mine?

Did it matter? That memory was private- and Brittany's Yeerk had forced it on me, had used it to hurt me, had used it to hurt Brittany-

I felt the need to throw up again- I had to make it stop, I couldn't just let Brittany's Yeerk violate Brittany's thoughts like that-

With an enraged scream I swung my fist wildly; I managed to hit Brittany's head, but it wasn't enough to knock her unconscious. I collapsed on the floor, sobbing, my thoughts scattered and broken. Brittany's friends- that entire planet- and those pompous Andalites didn't even care what it would do to Brittany- she'd been used. They _congratulated_ her. How many planets had she been forced to help destroy? How many?

The overwhelming feeling of guilt and terror from the memory was still working its way through me, and it made me feel sick all over, made me feel worse than I had ever felt. Was this how Brittany felt at the news that she'd basically helped destroy an entire planet full of sentient beings on accident?

_Fuck, I'm so sorry, Brittany. _

The Yeerk remained silent. It didn't send any more memories, but it didn't say anything, either. I tried not to think about what that silence meant for Brittany. Was it torturing her in private, now, instead? There was no way to know, not unless I asked. But I had other things to think about.

My pulse raced with anxiety. I had to find a way to get the Yeerk out of Brittany's head- but how? I couldn't cut her head open. That would probably kill her. _Think, Santana._ Why do Yeerks leave?

To eat- but Brittany's Yeerk wasn't showing any signs of needing food any time soon. I still didn't know what part of the feeding cycle it was in. It could still have two more days! I shook my head- no way could I endure this for two more days, no way Brittany could endure this for two more days. I knew those memories were just the surface-

_What else?_

When their host dies. _Like Finn-_

I shivered, imagining Brittany wounded severely- would her Yeerk leave then? And what if it didn't, and Brittany died along with it?

Was I strong enough to let Brittany die?

The thought made my stomach turn again. Oh, God. I didn't know. And the Yeerk would call my bluff, wouldn't it? And then I'd have to release Brittany to transform to keep her from dying-

No. I couldn't do that. There had to be another way. There had to be a way to force a Yeerk out-

And then, suddenly, I remembered- the _Yeerkbane_! Sugar had one, didn't she? She'd used it to force the Yeerk out of Terri. And obviously Terri was okay, which meant the _Yeerkbane_ didn't do any damage to her- at least, not visibly.

But how was I going to get it here? I needed to get someone to acquire it. _Quinn_.

My heart raced as my plan became more concrete. I was going to free Brittany. I was going to have Quinn rip that slimy, disgusting slug out of her head-

_[You seem marginally better,]_ Brittany commented derisively.

I smiled. "Oh, I am. I've figured out how to get you out of there, Yeerk."

_[Yeah? Please do share. I so love your pathetic ideas. Brittany does, too.]_

I glared at the Yeerk's jab, but instead focused on the positivity of knowing Brittany would be free soon. "Well, as I'm sure you know from violating Brittany's mind, our friend Sugar has a _Yeerkbane_. And I plan to utilize it to suck you right out of there."

Brittany laughed. _[Sounds like a perfect idea. You're only forgetting one important detail- the _Vanarx_ doesn't work on Andalites.]_

"Why the hell not?" I exploded. "And why should I believe you?"

Brittany smirked at me, her eyes challenging. _[The force of the _Vanarx_ would crush an Andalite skull- delicate bones, remember? Brittany's brain would exit right along with me, although, I'm sure the _Vanarx_ wouldn't mind. It enjoys brains as well as Yeerks.]_ Brittany shrugged. _[As for why you should believe me-] _the Yeerk focused Brittany's blue eyes on mine, and I felt my mouth go dry, _[can you really afford not to?]_

I hesitated, feeling all my hope draining out of me. _Fuck_.

_[Aw, Santana- it was a really good try. Brittany's proud of yo-]_

"You shut your mouth!" I screamed, jumping to my feet and stabbing my finger at her.

_[Don't have one-]_

"Whatever!" I snatched up the metal rod from the floor, brandishing it threateningly. "Just _stop_, or I swear to God I will render you into a fucking _vegetable_ until you _starve out of there_. Any way you look at it, Brittany and I walk away from this, and _you die_."

The Yeerk didn't respond, and I angrily ran a hand through my hair, pulling it back off of my face, trying to calm down. I thought about what I'd said. Brittany's Yeerk would die. And Brittany and I would walk away from this. Repeating it made me feel better, reassured me just a little.

Because for me, there was no other choice- I wasn't strong enough to kill Brittany.

* * *

Hours passed in silence, and again, I tried not to think about what was going on in Brittany's brain. I should've knocked her unconscious again- that might've spared her some suffering. But it also would've spared the Yeerk some suffering, too, and I wanted it to feel its time winding down. It wouldn't take my offer to leave if it didn't feel like it was helpless- which it was.

Unfortunately, that meant that the Yeerk was probably torturing Brittany instead of me. Was it forcing her to relive her worst moments? And was it better for her to relive them, herself? Or for the Yeerk to fling them at me and have _me_ live them instead?

I shook my head. Brittany's private memories were just that- _private_. She was more than likely ashamed, guilty, regretful- why would she want to share those parts of herself with anyone? Especially with _me_? I thought back to when I had been cut in half- all those dark parts of myself had been exposed to Brittany, and I had felt shame, guilt, regret. I never wanted her to see that part of me, just as I'm sure Brittany never wanted me to see those memories-

The thought made me angry. Brittany's Yeerk had crossed a terrible, terrible line. I couldn't think of doing anything to Brittany that would hurt worse than what her Yeerk had done- except maybe killing me or something, which it was incapable of doing.

_But it had tried. _

I gingerly touched my neck in remembrance, clenching my jaw with determination. Brittany's Yeerk was the worst kind- ruthless, conniving, merciless- no way was it going to get out of this alive. Not after what it had done.

I looked at Brittany- her normally bright blue eyes were dull and blank. It hurt me more than anything- that she was internalizing everything. I slid my gaze over her shoulders, her chest- she was shivering. My heart skipped with hope- was the _fugue_ starting? Were we close, at least? I had no way of knowing unless I asked, and I wasn't exactly eager to talk to the Yeerk again.

I still had no idea how much time had passed. I only knew that I was beyond exhausted. My limbs were heavy, and I had a pounding headache from crying, from the emotional strain this whole situation put on me. And if I was exhausted, I could only wonder how Brittany felt. I wanted to touch her so bad- to hug her, comfort her, _anything_-

I hugged my knees to my chest instead and cried myself silently to sleep.

* * *

_[We're hit!] Prince Willi-Amschu-Ester cried, frantically trying to regain control of our small ship as it spiraled in space._

_ I felt useless. I wasn't a pilot- I wasn't the best at shooting, either, so I couldn't even take weapons-_

_ Prince Willi cursed. [Where did that Blade Ship even come from?] His hands flew over the console. The ship rocked to the side, and I tried to stay on four hooves as a small explosion erupted near the back, sending a small shockwave rattling through the ship. _

_ [That was our secondary Z-space thruster,] Prince Willi updated. [We have to-]_

_ Blinding light! _

_ [Aagh!]_

_ I flew forward, knocked from my hooves and sliding towards the front of the small bridge as the viewscreen was filled with Dracon fire, and the Dome Ship- my new Dome Ship- Azimio exploded silently in a giant burning blaze. _

_ [No!] Prince Willi cried, and I scrambled back up, my gaze sliding over his form- _

_ [You're bleeding,] I said blankly, not processing what was happening. The Azimio was destroyed. Captain Adler and her T.O., all the brave Warriors and Princes, even Dafydd-Karof-Scee, who'd somehow been assigned to this corner of the galaxy despite the odds- everyone on the ship had been-_

_ Prince Willi shot me an angry, incredulous look. [So I am,] he said tersely. He punched up something on the controls and the ship shot forward suddenly, listing to the left. I heard the loud noise indicating that life support systems had failed, and emergency back-ups had been engaged. _

_ [We're going to crash,] Prince Willi confirmed, breaking into my thoughts and sounding calmer, but not much. [We're caught in the gravity of this planet.] He punched a few more buttons before he turned to me. Behind him, the viewscreen lit up the ship's trajectory and landing course, and the ground grew bigger and bigger. _

_ [We're going to crash,] Prince Willi repeated. [And when we do, you need to get away from this ship.]_

_ [What about you?]_

_ [I am mortally wounded, Britta-Nysp-Ierce.]_

_ I scanned his body. Yes, it looked bad, but- [Use the transforming power. We have the Escafil Device. I know you've never been fond of it, but it could save-]_

_ [No,] Prince Willi said wearily. [There's not enough time for that. And- I am tired.] _

_ My hearts beat painfully. He looked so, so sad. I knew he'd had a tragic, rough life, and that he'd never wanted to accept this mission with me, and that it can't have been easy dealing with me, anyways, but-_

_ The computer chirped, warning us that we had a few minutes left before impact. The viewscreen showed us getting closer and closer to the surface of the planet. Prince Willi's expression grew hard. [Okay- time to transform. Our landing is going to be rough, so it's best if you become something small-]_

_ [Prince Willi-]_

_ [Do as I say,] he snarled. He raised his tail threateningly. [I am your Prince. Transform. Do it now.]_

_ I waited another second. I couldn't leave Willi-Amschu-Ester behind, could I? He would surely die. Was I okay with letting him die? He'd been my mentor these past few months, and while his teachings hadn't always been positive, nor had he been my biggest supporter, I couldn't help but care about him, and-_

_ FWAPP!_

_ Intense pain! My chest was on fire! I looked down- Prince Willi had cut me! He cut me. I was bleeding severely from my chest, the dark liquid seeping in a steady stream. His slice was deep, and I cringed as throbbing agony flooded my system from the wound. _

_ [Now you must transform.]_

* * *

_She never planned to stay with you._

I shifted uncomfortably.

_It was always her and Gesii. The whole time, Brittany and Gesii._

"No," I mumbled. I shifted again. Was I still asleep? What was going on? Who the fuck was talking to me?

_She was never going to stay human after the war. She lied to you. _

Who lied? Brittany? No-

_See for yourself._

My eyes snapped open, but I wasn't in the basement. I was in a meadow- only, the grass wasn't green, it was blue with tints of red in it. _Weird_. Above me, the sky was orange. And around me, weird trees that looked like huge stalks of asparagus stood in little clusters. I took a hesitant step, not really sure what I was looking for-

And then I saw them.

Brittany. And Gesii. And I felt sick.

Gesii had his arms around Brittany's waist, and she was cupping his face, stroking it softly, affectionately. Her eyes were shining with happiness and love, and I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach- she'd only ever looked at _me_ like that-

Next to Brittany was a tall, broad-shouldered male Andalite who looked pleased- Brittany's father. I recognized him from recent memories. Beside him stood her mother, and her sister. They all looked super thrilled to see Brittany standing with Gesii.

_She was always going to marry Gesii. Not you- never you._

"This isn't real," I whispered, shaking my head. My eyes slid over Brittany.

_No- but it will be. Britta-Nysp-Ierce will leave you, and live the life she's supposed to live- the life she _wants_ to live. A life without _you_. _

I swallowed. This wasn't real… but what was it? Was it a dream? And if it was, was it mine, or Brittany's? Was it a fantasy? Was it something Brittany had imagined for herself? My throat felt tight, like I had a huge lump in it.

How real _was_ this?

_Real enough, _the voice continued. _You didn't think you were good enough for her, did you?_

I bit my lip. My chest felt constricted. It was hard to breathe. _No_. I never felt good enough for Brittany-

_Because you aren't. And she knows that. Why would she stay with a selfish, immature person like you? Especially when she has a _champion_- a _war hero_- to go home with? To be happy with?_

She's happy with me-

_ Fleeting. Fake. You were never even an option._

* * *

I woke up with a shuddering sob, already crying. My heart was pounding painfully, my stomach twisting in knots. I sat up further from my hunched position, glaring over at Brittany, who was watching me with dark, curious eyes. _The Yeerk._ The Yeerk had put that dream in my mind- but how much of it was real? Could it just make up shit like that? It had control of Brittany's mind- but Brittany's dreams? How did that work?

"You know, your time is growing shorter," I snapped. "You really should enjoy your last moments reliving _happy_ memories, instead of trying to torture me with _fabricated_ ones."

Brittany chuckled. _[Oh, Santana- they aren't fabricated. They are straight out of Brittany's thoughts. You really think I have nothing better to do than dream up insignificant stuff like that?]_

I shrugged. "No. You're trapped."

_[I simply use the weapons that are already at my disposal,]_ Brittany sneered. _[I can't help it if they just so happen to be unfavorable to you.]_

I nodded. "Right. Well. This has been fun, but I'm done talking to you." I stood up slowly and moved closer to Brittany, who leaned away from me.

_[What are you doing?]_ she hissed.

I scanned her head- she had a large, ugly-looking bruise where I'd struck her with the metal rod. It looked bad- the skin had broken and it had bled, but the blood had already dried. I bit my lip. I didn't want to risk smashing her skull in. Which meant-

I turned to the shelf, taking down the sedatives I'd managed to obtain. I didn't exactly have any life support systems to monitor her- I could only hope that the dose I was about to inject wasn't going to kill her.

She struggled, of course- but she was tied up. And still weak from her injuries. So as I stabbed the sedatives into her, I kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn't take much to put her under.

After a few moments, her muscles relaxed, and she slumped forward, leaning to the right. I breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that Brittany would be able to take a breather from her Yeerk's torment, and before I could think twice, I reached out and stroked fingers down her shoulder.

Her skin felt the same as it always did- soft and smooth, and I let my hand graze down to her forearm, caressing it softly. I knew she couldn't really feel it, but touching her made me feel a little better. It made me feel close to her again, even though I knew the only thing separating us was her Yeerk.

I needed to get it out- _somehow_.

Brittany shivered, suddenly and violently, and I watched her for any further movement. Absently, I traced my fingers back up to her shoulder, and then before I could resist, I was pulling her head into my lap, cradling it tenderly.

"It's gonna be okay, B," I whispered. If the Yeerk could hear me, then so could Brittany. "We're gonna be okay." I felt tears coming, and tried to swallow the feeling down. I felt so powerless. What could I do to free Brittany? Nothing. There was nothing I could do but wait. "I promise."

Brittany's main eyes fluttered, and she looked up at me, startlingly clear and lucid. _[Eyes,]_ she mumbled, blinking away tears. _[You have beautiful eyes.] _

I bit my lip, remembering the first time we met, in the woods- she had said the exact same thing, and the memory finally forced my tears to escape. Brittany slipped back into her sedated haze a moment later, and I sat, cradling her head and silently crying for a long, long time.

* * *

I sang to her. It made me feel better, cheered me up a little. It seemed that the majority of the sedatives had gone straight to the Yeerk, since it was tied directly to her brain. I guess the connection worked differently for Andalites than it did for humans, obviously. Brittany seemed to fade in and out of awareness, gaining control for seconds at a time, but too drugged to do anything about it. But it comforted me that she was in there, so I continued to try and soothe her as best I could.

"_'Cause the world goes on without us,_

_ It doesn't matter what we do._

_ All silhouettes and no regrets_

_ When I'm melting into you._

_ 'Cause I belong in your arms,_

_ I belong in your arms."_

She hadn't stopped shaking, and I hoped it had to do with the Yeerk and not her reaction to the drugs I'd given her. Too soon, though, the sedatives wore off, and the Yeerk regained total control, glaring at me. I moved away from Brittany and resumed hugging my knees, maintaining an indifferent, stoic expression.

"It's started, hasn't it?" I said at last after long minutes of silence.

Brittany's Yeerk didn't answer. Which only confirmed it for me.

"You still have time to save yourself," I said coolly. "Leave Brittany and-"

_[It hasn't started yet,]_ the Yeerk snapped. _[This host body is starving, not me.]_

I blinked. _Brittany_ was starving? I tried to think- when was the last time she'd eaten? Before the mission, but I mean, _I_ could go days without food before I got to the point Brittany seemed to be at.

Then again, I didn't know anything about Andalite physique. Brittany ate from absorbing nutrients through her hooves- which meant she was almost continuously eating. Which made sense, I guess, because how many nutrients could she really glean from running on grass? She would have to be absorbing them constantly-

_ [I still have another day,]_ the Yeerk grated continuing to complain. _[But this body- this body-]_ Brittany looked at me. _[I _might as well_ have started the fugue.]_

I raised an eyebrow. "You _know_ how to fix it. I'll put you in this-" I reached beside me and snatched up the small, sterile container I'd managed to find in one of the storage bins. Sure, it was a urine cup, but it was clean and secure. Like I cared what it was, anyway. As long as it did its job. I held up the container. "I'll put you in this, and then I'll drop you off somewhere in the hospital where your people can find you."

Brittany chuckled humorlessly. _[You'd let me escape, knowing what I know about your plan? Slim chance.]_

I shrugged. "The plan is already underway. By the time you're able to do anything about it, Sam and the others will already have made their move."

Brittany looked hard at me, searching my face for any mistruth. But I held my expression, keeping myself calm and collected. Neutral.

"It's better than dying in Brittany," I added for good measure.

_ [Why?]_

"Excuse me?"

_[Why do you care so much about this Andalite? You'd risk the fate of your entire race- of your entire planet- to save this one creature from slavery, from suffering?]_

I shrugged and swallowed. "I'm selfish, I guess."

Brittany shook her head. She narrowed her eyes. We stared at each other for a long time.

_Cold. Indifferent. Neutral._

_[Give me your word.]_

I nodded slowly. "You have my word. Leave Brittany and live."

I waited, my stomach tying itself in knots. Would it work? Would it work? Would it-

And then, Brittany nodded.

* * *

I stood in front of Brittany's lightly trembling form, holding the plastic urine cup up carefully next to her ear as the Yeerk wriggled out. My right hand was gently cupping Brittany's face, holding her head comfortingly against my stomach.

The dull sound of the Yeerk's body hitting the cup brought my attention back to it, and I swallowed. I released Brittany's head, took two steps back.

And then I dumped the Yeerk onto the floor and smashed it until it was nothing but a black smear on the cold, cement floor of the hospital basement.

* * *

My hands couldn't move fast enough as I cut Brittany's tail free, enough for her to twist it and release the rest of it. Within seconds she'd sliced the bracelet keeping her transforming under control off of her wrist, and then, a minute later, she was human and collapsing, sobbing, into my arms.

I held her close, feeling my own tears surfacing, and stroked her hair as she clutched my shirt tightly, shaking, her whole body wracked violently with the force of her crying. I stroked hair back from her face, which was buried tightly into my neck. Her tears soaked my skin and my shirt, but I didn't care; I let Brittany cry herself out…

And wondered if we would ever be okay again.

* * *

**._.**

**Question of the day: Would you have killed Brittany's Yeerk? Or would you have kept your word?**

**More on Santana's decision in the next chapter! Along with some more angst- Brittany deals with the aftermath of this chapter; Santana finally confronts Gesii; Brittana make a huge decision about their future together, and maybe… if you're lucky… Some FLUFF! ;D**

**Thanks for reading! Review if you're not too deep in your feels**.

**But if you are, well then. Hug it out? :D**


	37. Selfish

**Hey, everyone. :)**

**I wanted to have this up on Monday, but as you can probably tell, not only did that not happen, but this chapter turned into the longest chapter ever. I hope you'll still accept it, though. **

**Thanks to everyone who responded to the last chapter! All of your comments were either very amusing or very thought-provoking, so it was actually really wonderful hearing from you. I pretty much have the best readers. **

**This chapter is not as painful as the last chapter, but still pretty angsty, and I'm sorry for that. Just hang in there. It'll get better… maybe. ;)**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

The flight home was spent in silence. Brittany was quiet, and I didn't know what to say. What could I say? I didn't have a clue. I didn't know how to reassure her because I had no idea what she was thinking, what she was feeling. And I didn't want to initiate such a serious conversation as a _bird, _for fuck's sake. If I was going to reassure her, I wanted her to know my words were genuine; I wanted her to see it in my eyes.

So we flew in silence.

Which kind of killed me, I mean- I knew Brittany was hurting, and there was nothing I could do about it; not yet. I ran through a list of people in my head, people to blame. And as the anger built in me, the solution became clearer and clearer in my mind.

I knew what I had to do.

Once we reached the _Batcave_ and were back to human, Brittany grabbed my hand so tightly I thought she might crush it.

"Don't- don't leave," she pleaded, her voice cracking. I looked at her pitiful expression, at the tears already starting to form in her blue eyes. She was trembling lightly, and I shook my head.

"I won't," I promised firmly, squeezing her hand. I pulled her into me, wrapping my arm around her shoulder, and kissed her temple. She leaned against me and I guided her to the lift.

Sam and the others were waiting anxiously in the main room as we entered. They were talking, but they stopped that shit quickly once they saw me and Brittany. Sam stood up from his seat and slowly began to approach us, looking concerned.

I held up a hand to halt him, giving him a steely glare. He snapped his humongous mouth shut and no one said a word as I carefully steered Brittany to our room.

Once inside with the door shut, I sat her down on the edge of the bed gently, then fell to my knees in front of her, reaching up to stroke some stray blonde hairs back from her face. I cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes.

"Is there anything you need?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

She shook her head and swallowed thickly. When she spoke, her voice was tiny, trembling. "Just you."

I felt my heart breaking all over again. "Oh, Britt-"

"Can we-" she choked. "Can we just lay here for a while? I'm not-" She bit her lip. She was shaking, struggling not to cry.

"Of course," I murmured. "Let me just go get some water, okay?"

Brittany's eyes widened in terror, but she nodded. "Okay."

"Lay down. I'll be right back, I promise. I promise."

Brittany moved hesitantly to do as I said, and I kissed her forehead, letting my lips linger before straightening up and pulling away. Brittany's face looked so sad, so miserable. She was in so much pain, and there was nothing I could do about it, and that made me angry. In that moment, I hated every single person who had ever hurt her, and I would do anything- _anything_- to keep her from being hurt in the future.

I slipped out and gently closed the door behind me, careful not to make too much noise, and when I turned to make my way to the kitchen, I was confronted with Sam and the others again. I felt my anger spiking as Sam opened his mouth.

"How is sh-"

THWACK!

My fist connected with Sam's face and he staggered back, his arms flailing a moment as he teetered before regaining his footing. Mercedes gasped from somewhere behind him. The others looked at me with wide, shocked eyes. Sam shot me a surprised glare, his hazel eyes understanding but hurt, which infuriated me further. Blood dripped in a steady stream down his chin. I guess I had busted open one of his guppy lips- _good_.

"Santana, what-"

"You _ASSHOLE_," I snarled. I stabbed my finger at him. "I told you I didn't want to fucking do that stupid mission! Because of _you_, Brittany-"

"It's not _me_ you're angry with," Sam interrupted quietly, riling me even more. How the fuck does _he_ know who I'm angry with? I _sure as hell_ was angry with him! I only wished _he'd_ get angry, too, and fight me so I'd have an excuse to beat his ass.

"No, _you_ are the one who asked for my advice and then _didn't fucking listen to it_! I told you the mission was a bad idea, and I was _right_."

Sam wiped his chin, effectively smearing the blood across it, and spat, "I didn't see you offering up a better plan, Santana."

I glared at him. "I could've; but now it doesn't fucking matter." I narrowed my eyes further, lowered my voice to a hiss, "We're done with this. We're leaving, and we're not fucking coming back."

I spun on my heel and stormed into the kitchen to get my glass of water, leaving behind stunned silence. But I didn't care. They could be stunned all they wanted. Brittany had done enough for this stupid war. She would never leave on her own, she was far too honorable for that. Which meant _I_ had to be the dishonorable one. I had to make the decision for _both_ of us.

I shook my head at myself, chuckling darkly. _I_ had to be the bad guy.

I had to be selfish.

Brittany's Yeerk had been right.

* * *

The sight of Brittany on the bed when I re-entered our room broke my heart all over again. She was curled into a tight ball, her eyes squeezed closed in anguish, shaking violently. I sat down on the bed next to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she jerked, her eyes snapping open in terror. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest.

"Britt…" I said softly.

She snatched my hand from where I had pulled it back from her shoulder, and clenched it tightly in hers, pulling it to her chest.

"Santana," she whimpered. "Will you- will-" she took a shuddering breath, and I leaned forward and pressed my lips to the side of her head, breathing in her scent. I knew what she wanted- what she _needed_. It's the same thing I needed when _I_ was broken.

I carefully climbed onto the bed behind her, curling myself around her and hugging her tightly to my body, so that we were pressed flush, touching in every possible place. She hugged my arm to her chest, and it took me a moment to realize she was silently crying.

"Oh, Britt," I whispered into her hair, pressing a kiss there. "I'm here, honey."

She cried for a long time. I wondered how she still had so many tears left in her, but I didn't mind. I just held her tightly to me and let her sob while I whispered reassuring things against her hair. Eventually, she stopped crying and just stared blankly at the wall in front of us, completely silent and still, except for her light trembling.

I pressed kisses into her hair, into her shoulder, against the base of her neck, listening to her deep, shaky breaths. My thoughts were scattered everywhere- I was dying to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling, but I didn't want to pressure her. I didn't want to push her into talking about it if she wasn't ready, but not knowing what was going on inside her pretty head was worrying me. It was then that a thought occurred to me-

"Britt, you need to eat," I said softly. She shook her head slowly, and I tightened my grip on her. "Britt…"

"I'll be okay for a- a while," she said, so quiet I almost didn't hear her.

"What? Brittany, you almost _starved_," I said, cringing at the fact that I had to bring up her ordeal. I had a feeling that she was trying to block the whole thing out. I mean, I was, too.

She hugged my arm to her even more tightly. "It's true that my cell structure had begun to break down due to lack of nutrients; however, the transforming process reconstructed them completely. Very soon my body will start the process over, and not even transforming will be able to alleviate the progression, but I have some time. I just-" she paused to swallow. "I just don't want to leave, yet."

I pulled her in as close to me as possible. "Okay," I whispered. "We don't have to right now. But soon, all right?"

"Soon," Brittany promised, her eyes slipping closed.

I nuzzled my face into her hair, surrounded by her living scent, as Brittany drifted off to sleep. I hoped her dreams were peaceful. I hoped she was able to rest a little and escape her own thoughts for a short while. I still had no idea what she'd been thinking or feeling, but I knew with more time she would open up to me. I just had to give her time, right?

A soft knock on the door made me glance at the clock, and I realized an hour had already passed. Brittany was still asleep against me, and the thought made me sad but relieved. I was glad she was sleeping- but mostly upset about what she'd endured that had made her so exhausted in the first place.

"Come in," I said quietly, careful to keep my voice down.

The door opened slowly and Sam poked his head inside. His fishy lips showed no signs of damage, which meant he'd transformed to heal himself. _Puss_. I sat up slightly and narrowed my eyes at him, already on the defensive of whatever he had to say. He was basically the last person I wanted to see, and his expression told me he knew it, too.

Sam cleared his throat uneasily, hesitating. "We, uh- we're about to have a meeting before we embark on our mission," he said. He looked at me hopefully. "Do you-"

"Not interested," I hissed. Quietly.

"Santana-"

"Fuck the hell off, Sam. I'm not leaving Brittany. I told you, we're done with this."

Sam glared at me for a moment, his eyes hard and blaming. I didn't care. He could be angry all he wanted. I wasn't going to change my mind.

After a moment, he slipped out, closing the door gently behind him. Well, at least he was considerate of Brittany. Once he was gone, my eyes fell to Brittany's quietly sleeping form against me again. I reached up to brush some hair off her forehead, letting my fingers stroke through the blonde strands. She hummed slightly and, even in her sleep, she leaned into my touch. It made me smile.

My smile fell when I realized Brittany still hadn't stopped trembling. I glanced at the clock again- she'd been transformed for almost two hours. I bit my lip. It would be so easy to just let her sleep; then she'd be human- _permanently_- and we could escape this life, escape this war, and go live out our days together like I'd planned- on some wild island, eating coconuts or whatever. The thought of Brittany in a bikini was definitely appealing.

I swallowed. As much as I wanted to just let her trap herself, I couldn't do that. It wouldn't be right, would it? _She_ had to make that decision; it wasn't my decision to make. I didn't want her to wake up and regret it- she had enough regrets. So instead of snuggling down against her and forgetting about the world, I pressed a firm kiss to her temple and breathed her name over her skin.

Brittany shifted, mumbling incoherently, and I kissed her cheek, then her jaw, and she turned onto her back, blinking up at me and still clutching my arm to her like a security blanket. I nudged my nose against hers.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hi," she breathed. Her expression was still sad, still strained, and it made my heart ache.

"You have to transform," I said, cupping her cheek. She averted her eyes and bit her lip. After a moment, she nodded, raising her gaze back to mine. Her eyes were shiny with tears, and I'd never felt more helpless. I stared at her, willing her silently to _talk to me_, to tell me what was going on in her brain-

She swallowed and turned her face away, breaking eye contact and moving to sit up. I let my breath out slowly as she began to shift back to her natural form.

She still hadn't stopped shaking.

* * *

Once she re-transformed, we returned back to the same position, with me spooning Brittany from behind. She fell back asleep almost instantly- something I was grateful for. At least she felt safe enough near me to get some rest. At least, I hoped that's what her reasons were.

I watched her sleep for a little over thirty minutes, convincing myself more and more of the solution I'd decided on. I had to get her- _us_- out of this stupid war. I had joked in the past about going away somewhere, but now I was more-than-seriously considering it. I couldn't let anyone hurt Brittany ever again.

Beiste was in the war now, once she got out of lockdown. She was far more experienced, more trained, more capable of handling a war than I was- than any of us were. It wasn't my responsibility to fight the Yeerks. I mean, why were Brittany and I constantly putting ourselves in danger? That's what we paid people like Beiste for.

I mean, we _Transformers_ had done damage to the Yeerks- and despite everything, they grew stronger, kept infesting more people by the day, dangled our loved ones in front of us, killed people we cared about. We never caused huge, crippling damage to the Yeerks. We risked everything to be a small _annoyance_- a mosquito bite, or a flat tire- and yet we barely escaped with our lives. Every. Single. Time.

Well, it was time to throw in the towel and let the people who actually know what the fuck they're doing handle it. We were never prepared to fight this stupid war- we'd been thrown into it, scared and clueless, and nothing had changed since we'd started- not really. I still felt just as close to dying on every mission as I did on that very first one. Hamsters running in wheels but getting nowhere. Einstein's definition of _insanity_.

At some point during my troubled thinking, Brittany released my arm and shifted away from me on the bed. It concerned me- mainly because she'd never pulled away from me while sleeping before; not unless it was on purpose. Had she pulled away on purpose? The thought hurt, but I tried to calm myself- she was _sleeping_. Maybe she couldn't control it. I reassured myself, but doubt still lingered in the very back of my mind, and I felt lame for feeling upset in the first place. It was a little far-reaching to get hurt by something someone does in their sleep. God, I was definitely losing it.

I tried instead to look at Brittany's movement as a good thing- now I could slip away without waking her. Sam and the others would be gone, which meant I could begin to set my plan into motion.

The first thing I had to do was talk to Sugar.

I quietly slipped from the bed, casting one longing look at Brittany. I hoped she wouldn't wake up while I was gone.

* * *

"So can you do it?" I asked, crossing my arms impatiently. "'Cause if not, then…"

Sugar shrugged indifferently. "I'm sure I can- I mean, I _am_ the richest person in this state. If I can't manage to secure some reasonably-legit papers, then that would just be pathetic." I let out a relieved sigh, at the same time rolling my eyes as Sugar continued, "and just for the record, I'd like to clear up that my father is _not_ in the Mafia."

I gave her a confused look. People actually _believed_ that? "Of course not. That would actually make _sense_. Having a daughter infested by an evil alien from across the galaxy is just so much more ridiculous."

"I'm not actually infested anymore," Sugar pointed out. "It's too dangerous for me to get a new Yeerk. It could bring our entire operation down."

"Uh-huh."

Sugar flipped her hair over her shoulder carelessly. "I'll get back to you as soon as they're ready," she said bluntly, and then she left, strolling out the doorway and leaving me standing, stunned. She hadn't been surprised at all by my request, and was actually pretty enthusiastic about it. I really couldn't believe that something was finally going my way.

But I wasn't going to complain about it. It was about time, after all.

* * *

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. With Sam and the others gone, it was eerily quiet. The parents mostly kept to themselves, and I assumed Puck was spending time with his sister, Esther. I knew Sugar and her ever-present minions were lurking around somewhere, but they mostly stayed away from our area of the underground labyrinth Sugar had built. It still boggled my mind how big it was, but honestly, I didn't really mind the peace and solitude.

I spent the evening eating some frozen junk food that I had found in the freezer and flipping through channels, trying to decide between reruns of _The Guy Code_ and reruns of _Diff'rent Strokes_. All of it seemed equally unappealing, and wasn't doing a good enough job of distracting me from my troubled thoughts.

Brittany spent most of the time sleeping as a human, curled on the couch nearby, but still maintaining her distance from me. She only moved to transform every two hours to restart her time limit, spending as little time in her natural form as possible. It made me sad, but I wanted to give her as much space and time as she needed, regardless of how hard it was for me, because this wasn't about me at all. It was about her. I tried not to be selfish.

After a while, she roused and sat up fully, pulling her knees to her chest and leaning against the arm of the couch opposite from where I was sitting. I tried to coax her to eat something, because she was still shaking, but she refused, and I couldn't really blame her- the microwave snacks I had found weren't the most appetizing foods in the world.

Eventually I gave up and just left her alone. She would eat when she was ready, right? I tried not to think of the alternative, and instead focused on the episode of _Wizards of Waverly Place_ I had settled on. Whatever, don't judge me.

After the episode, the Disney Channel was showing _Monsters, Inc_., I guess because it had just been re-released or something, I don't know. Like _I_ had time to keep up with anything going on other than the stupid war? I smiled to myself- that was all going to change. _Soon_.

I let the movie play and allowed myself to get completely drawn in- so I was pleasantly surprised when Brittany's pinky cautiously touched mine. I looked at her, and her expression was a mix between scared, hopeful, and longing. I offered her a genuine smile, and she hooked our pinkies together. I turned back to the movie, but our physical closeness progressed- eventually, all our fingers ended up laced together. Then, her head was on my shoulder. And by the time the end of the movie came, Brittany had her head in my lap while I stroked fingers through her hair and completely ignored the movie to study her beautiful face.

When it was time for bed, Brittany immediately pulled away and moved to lie on the bed with her back facing me. Again, I tried to suppress my hurt feelings- it felt like it'd been ages since I'd kissed her, since she'd touched me, since we'd been close- and instead took her gesture as an invitation to slide in behind her and hold her, which I accepted.

I kissed the back of her neck softly, squeezing her to me. She was still trembling lightly and I really couldn't hold in my concern anymore. "B, can we please go to the meadow in the morning?" I breathed. "I'm really worried about you."

"Okay," she whispered, sounding anguished. I took a deep breath, trying not to feel so sad. Maybe once she ate something, she'd feel better. Maybe some fresh air would lift her spirits a little. Maybe she just needed to get out of dark, underground spaces and escape her claustrophobia for a while.

I fell asleep trying to reassure myself with those thoughts, but I don't think any fraction of me believed it.

* * *

The next morning I woke up early, sprawled on my stomach, and noticing right away that Brittany wasn't in my arms. I immediately searched for her and found her sitting as far away from me on the bed as possible, wide awake and hugging her knees again. It surprised me- normally she stayed human until I fell asleep, and then returned to her true form to sleep the rest of the night-

_Oh_.

I swallowed suddenly, feeling a lump in my throat. She'd slept so much the day before so she wouldn't _have_ to sleep last night- so she wouldn't have to return to her true form for any length of time. Had she stayed up all night last night as a human, transforming every two hours? I shook my head slowly, my heart beating painfully in my chest at the thought of her alone with her thoughts all night while I slept. I wished she had woken me up.

"Britt," I mumbled, reaching for her. She flinched at my touch and I drew back my hand as if I'd been burned. She shook her head quickly and I bit my lip, trying to stifle the numbness that was slowly taking over my body. She was shutting me out, shutting down completely- and there was nothing I could do about it.

Reminding myself about space, I silently got up and threw on clothes. It was quiet in the halls. I guessed Sam and the others still hadn't returned. When I was ready, Brittany rose soundlessly beside me and we walked to the lift in silence. The small space between our bodies might as well have been miles with how disconnected I felt to her. I struggled to keep my feelings of dejection under control, chanting the same things- she was hurt, she was hurting, she needed space- but I couldn't help the fact that being so cut off was painful for me. Brittany was sinking into herself and withdrawing from me and that was the last thing that I wanted.

When we reached the meadow, Brittany took a deep breath, avoiding my eyes. I opened my mouth to say something, to encourage her, but she brushed me off and walked out onto the grass, leaving me standing by my usual Tree of Misery. I swallowed, staring at the tree glumly- at least its name was accurate, now.

I sank down into my usual spot and waited. My eyes didn't leave Brittany's form as she reverted back to Andalite and took hesitant, wobbly steps across the grass. Maybe this would be all right. Maybe the fresh air and sunlight and food would make her feel better. Maybe-

_ [You are the human named _Santana_, correct?]_

I jumped at the sudden thought-speak voice in my head, tensing immediately. I recognized the voice- it was Affay- but I was extremely wary of her sudden presence. I was instantly on guard- was Gesii with her? Was this some sort of ambush? I shifted, preparing to stand, when Affay spoke again.

_ [Do not get up. I would rather our conversation remain private.]_

I subtly scanned around me- but I couldn't see Affay. It suddenly occurred to me that she could be transformed- she could be _anything_. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at a tiny beetle crawling next to my shoe.

She laughed in my head, and my anger spiked quickly at the sound. I was rapidly losing my patience, and I definitely didn't like being laughed at.

_[You humans are way too paranoid,]_ she snickered. _[I assure you, I am in my natural form. But that is unimportant. I have a- _favor_ to ask. Yes, a favor.]_

I raised my eyebrow. "A favor?" I grumbled. Why the fuck would Affay need a favor from _me_? Me, of all people? And why the fuck would she expect me to help her? She obviously didn't know me at all.

I was about to reply when in the distance, I saw Brittany begin to run. Her steps were heavy, clumsy, even. Her hooves pounded the ground, so unlike Brittany's usual light gait. I thought about Affay- about how she'd struck Brittany down when she was a Controller, keeping her from escaping. About how she'd forced Brittany back to her natural form, preventing her from being trapped mid-transformation. And I swallowed the scathing retort that I had been about to deliver, and instead asked, "What kind of favor?"

_[I need you to help me destroy Gesii-Saynt-Djaims.]_

The sound of Brittany's hoof catching on something reached my ears, and in the next instant she stumbled. She tried to catch herself, but she was too off-balance. She hit the ground and slid, and I cringed at the sight of her body hitting the grass. My heart was pounding, aching. _My poor, poor girl._ She was so off, so deeply troubled. There was nothing I could do to help her, nothing-

My blood ran cold.

_Destroy Gesii-Saynt-Djaims._

It was _his_ fault Brittany was faltering. It was _his_ fault that she'd been infested, that she'd been tormented, that she'd been hurt so badly-

I stood up, clenching my fists, and jerked my head in a quick nod as I strode purposefully across the grass to Brittany's side.

_Destroy Gesii-Saynt-Djaims._

He was going to _pay_ for what he'd done to Brittany.

_[Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Meet me back here tonight when the sun goes down.]_

I nodded again to show that I'd heard her, and she didn't respond, but I knew she got the message. I'd worry about her later- right now the person who meant more to me than the entire world was in pain, which meant that nothing else mattered.

I slowed my pace as I got closer to Brittany's collapsed body, approaching her cautiously. She'd sat up slightly, but she was still pretty much sprawled in the grass. As I got even closer, I noticed her shoulders were shaking, and a sad wheezing noise was coming from her. She was _crying_.

"Oh, Britt," I whispered sadly, sliding to my knees beside her. A tiny voice in my head warned me to give her space, to leave her be, but I told that voice to fuck off and gently touched her shoulder. She tried to pull away, but I refused to let her- enough was enough. I wasn't going to let her suffer alone anymore. Call me selfish or whatever.

"No, Britt, no-" I breathed, shaking my head and holding her shoulder more firmly, keeping her from jerking out of my grip. I slid closer, cupping her face with my left hand. I thumbed her tears away and she let me pull her against me, burying her face in my neck. I hugged her as she cried, and even though she was an Andalite, it didn't bother me. Brittany was Brittany to me.

Once she calmed down a little, she pulled back to look at me. She gazed into my eyes for a long time, searching for something, and I let her, allowed myself to be found. Her blue eyes were dull and empty, devoid of their usual shine. It was a painful reminder that Brittany was still suffering.

After a while I reached up to hold her face again, and she leaned into my touch a little, not taking her eyes from mine. I reached out with my other hand to find hers and locked our fingers together, cradling her hand to my chest.

"B, talk to me- _please_," I pleaded softly. "Tell me what you're thinking."

_[I'm thinking about your eyes,]_ she said sadly. _[Your beautiful, perfect eyes.]_

"Britt," I said hoarsely, my throat suddenly feeling dry. I squeezed her hand tighter, brought her face closer to mine, so that our foreheads touched. It was a weird sensation. "You know what I mean."

Brittany shook her head slowly, and then she began to change. Once she was fully human and mirroring my position on her knees, still holding my hand, she took a deep breath. "I don't know," she whispered.

I stroked the back of her hand soothingly. "You're obviously hurting," I said. "But what's wrong? What's hurting you? I can't-" I paused, trying to compose myself. I was getting emotional, and that's the last thing Brittany needed. "I can't help you if I don't know what's going on in your mind."

"I feel-" Brittany started, then shook her head. "I don't know how I feel."

"Okay," I said slowly, sitting back on my feet. I thought for a moment. "You've been spending a lot of time as a human," I pointed out. Brittany nodded. "Do you-" I bit my lip. Should I tell her about my plan? I guess now was as good a time as any, right? But what if she said no? What if she refused to go away with me?

Oh, God, what if she rejected me?

I inwardly rolled my eyes at myself. I needed to stop being a pussy and just _do it_.

"Do you want to go away with me?" I said in a rush.

Brittany studied my face curiously. Her eyes gained a little of their light back, but not much. Still- it gave me a tiny bit of hope. Maybe-

"Go away?" she asked, her voice neutral and dull, and I hoped it was just her trying not to get excited. "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath. "Remember when I said we should just- just leave?" I asked quickly. "Just leave it all behind and go somewhere where the Yeerks won't find us, just you and me, and we wouldn't have to fight anymore, we could just-"

"Leave the war?" Brittany whispered, her eyes widening but not with shock, not with surprise. With something else, and I hoped it was with resolution- with finally finding what she'd been searching for.

"Yeah- you and me. Me and you. Both of us- together," I said, quoting _Monsters, Inc._ without even realizing it. I wanted to slap myself for being such a creep, but Brittany's lips gave the faintest lift into a smile- the first one I'd seen in _so long_- and instead I wanted to pat myself on the back. "You could be human all the time, and we could live out the rest of our lives together."

Brittany looked like she was warming up to the idea, and I thought I'd convinced her- but then, just as quickly, she shut down again, and shook her head. "I- I don't know." My face fell. Brittany stared at me. "I want to, I just- I don't- I feel-"

"Tell me how you feel, Brittany. _Please_. Please don't shut me out," I begged. I didn't even care. I was tired of being shut out. "_Please_."

"I feel tainted," Brittany whispered, avoiding my eyes. I sat, stunned, and waited for her to go on, hoping that she would elaborate. "I feel- uncomfortable in my own skin."

"But if you were human-"

"It's not just being an Andalite," she said quickly. "Although that's a lot of it. It's-" she paused. "I can't stand when you look at me."

I felt like I'd been punched in the chest. Like I couldn't breathe. I tried to take a deep breath, but I felt tears coming to my eyes, clouding my vision.

"Santana-"

I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking my head.

"Santana, it's not what you think," Brittany said angrily, miserably. "I can't stand when you look at me because I feel like you can _see_ me."

"I've always _seen_ you, Brittany," I managed to say in between trying to keep myself from breaking into sobs. I knew I was getting emotional too quickly but fuck, I couldn't help it, I'd been holding myself back for too long. "I thought that was a _good_ thing."

Brittany looked at me sadly. "Oh, honey- it _is_, but-"

"Then what's the problem?" My voice cracked. The painful feeling in my chest squeezed tighter around my heart.

"You weren't supposed to see the bad parts!" Brittany said suddenly.

"When I was split you saw all _my_ bad parts," I said accusingly. "What does it matter?"

Brittany shook her head. "That's not even close," she said bitterly.

"How?" I demanded. "Part of me is a violent psychopath-"

"And I'm _stupid_!" Brittany cried as she stood up abruptly, sounding completely anguished. She swiped angrily at the tears falling from her eyes, breathing hard. "You were the only- the only person who didn't look at me like I was _useless_! You were the only one who didn't think I was _stupid_, and I finally f-felt like maybe I wasn't- but now you've _seen_ that I a-_am_, and you know the _truth_ and I can't-" she sobbed violently, collapsing back to the ground and burying her face in her hands.

I shook my head slowly, completely baffled by her outburst. "Oh, my, God," I breathed, the squeezing feeling in my chest tightening even further. I didn't even know what to say. I knew that even if I told Brittany that I didn't think she was stupid, she wouldn't believe me. I had to think of some other way to prove it to her, some other way to show her that, yes, I _did_ see her- _all of her_- and I still loved those parts, just like she still loved mine-

"I know you get angry and it's hard for you sometimes," she mumbled into her hands through her sobs. "But- that means _nothing_ to me. You're so s-_smart_, and beautiful, and I'm _stupid_, and _useless_, and-" she took a shuddering breath, "and that's why I can't go aw-way with you."

"Britt, I don't-" I started. "I don't understand how-"

She looked up at me. Her blue eyes were so full of love and adoration, but shiny with tears. They streaked down her face. She looked completely devastated, heartbroken. "I can't be human," she whispered. "Not if I can't be with you."

"You _can_, baby, just-"

"I can't. You've _seen_ _me_, Santana." She offered me a broken, mournful smile.

"And you've seen _me_," I countered.

"I told you, that's-"

"_Nothing_ to me," I finished. "_Nothing_, Brittany. You mean- everything to me." I moved closer to her and grabbed her hand, relieved when she let me. "I'll never leave your side. Just- come away with me. Leave all of this behind, and I swear to you, Brittany- I'll be with you until the world ends."

"You _swear_?" Brittany asked bitterly. She shook her head, a sardonic, lopsided smile coming to her lips. "You know- I knew you wouldn't keep your word to that Yeerk."

I reeled back as if I'd been hit. "What?"

Brittany looked at me. A shiver rolled down my spine. "I _lied_ to that Yeerk to make it think you would keep your word- but I knew you wouldn't. I _wanted_ you to kill it," she confessed in a whisper.

I swallowed and averted my eyes from Brittany's intense gaze, completely overwhelmed by her confession, and unsure how I felt about the knowledge that Brittany knew me a lot more intimately than I'd previously thought. Is that why she believed I wouldn't keep my word on being with her? The two scenarios weren't even comparable. "Britt, you have to know-"

"I do," she said, firm and clear. Our eyes met. Her gaze was chilling, and I felt completely exposed under it. "I _do_ know."

* * *

The rest of the day went by awkwardly. Sam and the others returned, looking somber and defeated, and I knew their mission had not gone well. It made me all the more glad that I had chosen not to go on it. It would've been a waste of my time, another horror to add to the long list of horrors I'd already endured, and for what? Nothing. It would've accomplished nothing.

The closer it grew to sundown, the more anxious I became about slipping out to meet with Affay. Would Brittany get suspicious? Would she question where I was going? Would she even let me leave, or did she need me close? I worried about how I was going to get away, but when the time came, I realized it was all pointless.

Brittany had been extremely distant with me since our conversation in the meadow, and I had no idea what to say, which was becoming a lot more frequent response for me. I didn't like it, but I also didn't really know how to fix it, so I just let it be. Brittany had shut me out almost completely, and I knew I wasn't going to get back in until she was ready to let me in- if she was ever going to be ready to let me in.

I tried not to think too much about that being a real possibility.

So instead of getting upset that Brittany didn't even care to ask where I was going, I slipped on my favorite hooded jacket and told myself it was advantageous to me that she didn't question my departure. I'd defeat Gesii-Saynt-Djaims and prove once and for all that I was serious about her future with me.

When I got to the meadow I took a deep breath and made my way over to my spot. It felt weird being there without Brittany, and I couldn't help feeling like I was betraying her somehow, even though I wasn't exactly doing anything wrong. I didn't think she'd approve of my conspiring to kill Gesii, but then again, she'd wanted me to kill her Yeerk-

_[You're late,]_ Affay's voice snapped into my head, and I shrugged my shoulders.

"You said when the sun sets. That's not exactly a specific time."

_ [Do you have a childish remark for everything?]_

"That was not childish," I huffed. I scanned around me, waiting for Affay to show herself. When she didn't immediately appear, I crossed my arms impatiently. "Look- I'm here, right? Are we going to do this thing or not?"

Affay laughed in my head, and it suddenly occurred to me the kind of dangerous position I was in. No one knew where I was. I had flown out here to meet with Affay, but she could've easily set me up into a trap. Gesii could spring out and attack me before I could even transform, and-

Leaves crunched and I whipped my head, preparing to transform to cheetah as fast as I could. I could run-

_ [Relax,]_ Affay said as she stepped into my line of sight. _[I'm not here to attack you.]_

I eased up a little, but not much. "Then what _are_ you here for?"

_[Straight to the point, I like that. I told you- I need a favor.]_

"Right- to destroy Gesii. But why? Aren't you supposed to be his minion or something?"

Affay glared at me. Her tail twitched in annoyance. _[That _darkapur_ needs to be reminded of his place. I saw what he did to you, it ain't right… It would benefit both of us if he was removed from the situation. Then I could actually carry out the real orders from the Fleet.]_

I looked at her skeptically. "What real orders?"

_[Not your concern, human.]_

"Okay," I said slowly. "So you need me to defeat Gesii for you?"

_[Are you up to the task?]_

I nodded, my expression turning hard. "Yeah. For what he did to Brittany, I'll make him suffer-"

_[Look, I don't care about all that,]_ Affay said dismissively. _[That's your business. I just wanted to know if you would.]_

"Yes. But why won't _you_ do it? You're far better prepared than I-"

_[Shain is too loyal to Gesii,]_ she interrupted coldly_. [He would interfere, and I can't take on both of them. If he didn't interfere, he would report to the Fleet that it was me- he's not as dumb as he appears. And there's a lot more politics at work in this situation, things he doesn't- wouldn't understand. I can't have a false accusation on my reputation- I've worked too hard, for too long, and being stuck on this wretched planet, following him-]_ She paused to compose herself. Her main eyes burned with fury_. [I can't confront him directly.] _

"Which is why you need _me_," I finished.

_[Precisely. You've thought about killing him before, I'm sure of it. How did you plan to defeat him with only a small arsenal of puny Earth animals at your disposal?]_

I shot her a look. "My forms are not _puny_," I muttered. "But- I have an Andalite form. Dafydd-Karof-Scee. Have you heard of him?"

Affay nodded intuitively_. [Ah, of course. Great warrior, but an unlikeable _yamphut_.]_

"Uh- That's him." I guess?

Affay's expression hardened again. _[He is not enough to beat Gesii. What else do you have?]_

I smirked. "Gesii himself."

At the mention of Gesii's form, her face perked up with interest. Her eyes lit up, and she suddenly looked a lot more invested. I nodded at her questioning expression. I figured she could grasp where this was going.

I took a deep breath. "Teach me how to do a _frolis maneuver_."

* * *

It turned out Affay couldn't teach me to do a _frolis maneuver_ on my own- but she could guide my mind through the process to create the new form that I needed. She said it was some kind of mind-linking military training she had received, and it reminded me of the time Brittany had tried to link our minds together all those months ago in my room, and how her Yeerk had somehow accessed that skill to send me her memories. Even though I knew what it would be like, I was still unprepared for the overwhelming feeling of having someone else in my brain.

It was weird- it was like, having someone transform _through_ me, but I was still there, focusing on the forms. Like I was a puppet having my limbs controlled, you know? I had never been a Controller, so I couldn't compare the two, but I assumed that I had a lot more control over my body than a Controller did. Affay pulled my thoughts in a certain direction, guiding me into one form, and then the other, and after a few minutes, I felt the two forms combining, the DNA merging as she expertly figured out which parts of the strands to save and which to throw away. It was unlike any feeling I had ever experienced before.

The whole process took less than five minutes, and when I was done, I stood on four black, sharp hooves. My tail was thick and powerful. My shoulders were broad. My legs were strong and sturdy, and, wait a minute-

_[Why am I male_?] I demanded in surprise. The fuck?

Affay rolled her eyes. I almost didn't notice because I was so used to Brittany doing it. _[It's physically highly improbable to attempt to beat Gesii with a female's tail- the blade is too small. Also I will remind you that you acquired two _male Andalites_, so it's a genetic impossibility to simply create the DNA required to make you a female. However, I have made it so you have managed to maintain some of your own female human DNA, which will help lend speed and agility to your steps.]_

_[Weird,]_ I said, studying my arms. My human DNA was in there somewhere?_[How does that-]_

_[Is that even important?]_ Affay cut me off. Jeez, the sass from this Andalite… _[Look, you got what you wanted. And when you defeat Gesii, I'll have what I want, too.]_

My expression hardened and I nodded. She was right. I now had what I needed to take care of Gesii. I looked at Affay. _[Thanks.]_

Affay nodded too, regarding me carefully. _[Here,]_ she said, and she stretched out her hand. In her palm was the tiniest gray cube I had seen so far. I recognized it as a holocube, but it was so small- _[Give this to your girl, Brittany- that is what she prefers to be called now, isn't it?]_

I smiled. Affay's acceptance was completely unexpected, but once she'd given it, I realized how much it meant to me. Finally, someone from the Andalite world had referred to Brittany as an equal instead of some subspecies of shit. I couldn't help but look at Affay with admiration and gratefulness as I accepted the cube. She was really, seriously cool. _[What's it for?]_ I asked, studying the cube in my hand.

_[She'll know what it's for,]_ Affay said as she turned away, leaving me standing in my new form. _[Now, come- I'm going to teach you a few basic fighting techniques.]_

I flexed my tail and felt nothing but confidence.

* * *

It was late, but not too late when I finally made it back to the _Batcave_. Everyone had already disappeared to their rooms and it was quiet. I was careful to keep my return unnoticeable- I didn't want Sam to confront me about stupid shit again. I also didn't really want Brittany to know I had left, even though I knew she was definitely smart enough to figure that out. I tiptoed silently down the hall, pretty proud of myself for sneaking in undetected- which is why I was genuinely surprised when Sugar found me.

"Here," she said, thrusting a small, sturdy envelope at me without any preamble.

"Shit," I hissed, my hand flying to my chest as I nearly had a heart-attack at her sudden presence. _Where had she come from?_ "Could you warn me the next time you're going to sneak up on me?"

Sugar looked at me. "And _how_ would you like me to do that, hmm? Blow a trumpet? Get an intercom installed and make an announcement? Send a carrier pigeon?"

I gave her a sullen glare. "Okay, you made a point." Sugar huffed impatiently, shaking the envelope at me. I looked dumbly at it as I accepted it. "What is this?"

Sugar rolled her eyes. "The documents you requested, idiot."

"Oh." I blinked. "That was fast."

Sugar waved her hand dramatically. "Well, I kind of already had all of it set up, I mean- I knew you'd need them _eventually_. I really was just waiting for the go-ahead." She shrugged in indifference, and I tilted my head, studying her. She was reaaaaally something.

"Thanks," I said awkwardly, not sure what else to say. I fidgeted.

"Don't mention it." She turned and began to walk down the hall. "Come get me if you need anything else."

I looked back down at the small cardboard envelope in my hands and swallowed, feeling the gravity of the moment. This was it. This envelope released Brittany- and consequently, _me_- from the war. I stared at it for another minute, feeling the weight of being trapped lift from my shoulders. We finally had freedom within our reach.

Now all I had to do was convince Brittany to take it.

I opened the door to our bedroom, surprised to find Brittany standing in the middle of it, staring off into space. She startled when I entered, and I gave her a questioning look.

She shook her head, which confirmed that she wasn't going to tell me anything, and I swallowed down my uneasy feeling, forced the twisting sensation out of my stomach. "This is for you," I said, careful to keep my tone light as I handed Brittany the tiny holocube.

Brittany took it, her eyes growing wide. She gave me a puzzled look. "Where did you get this?"

I smirked playfully at her, offering her a shrug. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but didn't question me further as I slipped past her, securing the envelope I'd gotten from Sugar in the bottom drawer of our shared dresser. Okay, I know it wasn't the most efficient hiding place, but hopefully it wouldn't have to stay there for very long.

"What's that?" Brittany asked from behind me.

"Just some papers," I said, turning to her. I moved closer, cupping her chin. When she didn't pull away, my heart skipped a beat. Maybe-

I leaned forward slowly, my heartbeat picking up the closer I got. I wanted to kiss her _so badly_- I ached for it. It wasn't even a sexual thing, I just- I missed her. I leaned in even more and caught her cringing just as my eyes slipped closed and my lips landed on her cheek. She had turned her head at the last second, avoiding my kiss, and I felt my heart sinking, felt stabbing pains in my chest.

"Britt-" I started, wounded. I bit my lip and pulled away, but before I could move away completely, Brittany grabbed my hand. I looked at her; our eyes met. Hers were desperate, pleading, as she searched mine. I wondered again what she was looking for, and how I could help her find it.

We stood in silence for long, tense moments, and finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. My heart felt like it was breaking and I just needed to get away from her- I couldn't stand to be so close to her and not be able to kiss her and hold her.

"I'm just going to go to sleep," I mumbled, averting my eyes and pulling my hand from her grasp.

She was silent, and I turned away. I changed into my pajamas on autopilot and crawled into bed, feeling numb. Brittany made no move to lie beside me, so I hugged her empty pillow and just tried not to cry.

* * *

The next morning I woke up to an empty bed and an empty room, and felt nothing. I had finally grown completely numb to it.

Okay, not completely- it still hurt that Brittany wasn't there when I woke up, but I pushed it away.

I had a job to do.

Unfortunately, Sam caught me on my way out the door. I knew I couldn't avoid him forever, but I had hoped that I could avoid him until after my fight.

"Where are you going?" he demanded lowly.

"Since when do you care?" I cut back. I didn't fucking need this shit right now. I had too many other things to worry about.

Sam sighed. "Look, we really needed you down there." At my harsh laugh, he added, "_I_ needed you down there. The others are starting to doubt me-"

"_Starting_ to?"

"Santana, don't make this harder than it is. I admit it, all right? I can't do this without you."

"Find a way," I sneered. "Because the only way you're going to be able to fight this war from now on _is_ without me."

Sam ignored my words and tried to be patient. "The Yeerk Pool attack was a disaster-"

"You think?" Oh, he'd finally figured that out after I'd already told him _days_ ago? How clever.

"-even the second time. We were shut down before we even had a chance to set the explosives. I just- they're not strong enough, Santana. They're tired."

"Yeah?" I asked sarcastically. "Me, too. Weird how that works, huh?"

"So am I," he admitted weakly. I looked at him closely for the first time in days. His eyes looked weary- sad, forlorn, and for a moment I dropped my defenses enough to feel sorry for him. Sam was just a kid, like me- like _all_ of us- scared, with no idea what to do. We all depended on him, put him under a lot of pressure to make decisions. But he didn't know better than any of us. He didn't know what to do more than I did. None of us did.

I took a deep breath and said, not unkindly, "Why don't you just let Beiste handle it from here?" His eyes met mine and I shrugged. "Focus on getting everyone's families out; we can give up this stupid war and just stay down here, or go away somewhere together…" I trailed off. It was my one offer for him to come with me. For him to accept what I had already accepted- defeat.

Sam shook his head slowly, bitterly. "Like Rachel? Visser Seven will never let that happen, and you know it. We have to stand and fight, there's no other way. It all ends here, Santana. Them or us."

"Well count me out of it," I said, turning towards the door. I'd had enough of this depressing conversation and Sam's bullshit. No other way? I refused to believe that. There was _always_ another way. I'd already taken it.

"We will lose without you," Sam called angrily, desperately. I paused in the doorway.

"You'll lose _with_ me, too."

* * *

Affay and I had planned for me to confront Gesii in the same meadow she and I had conspired in. She would tell him Sam wanted to meet him alone, and then once he showed up, I'd swoop in and confront him. It was pretty simple, and surprisingly fair and honorable. It wasn't like I was rolling up with a gang or something. It was just him and me, one on one. Totally justified.

I ran over some fighting techniques in my mind as I flew out to the edge of the meadow, trying to remember every tip Brittany had ever given me, every move I'd seen other Andalites execute, everything Affay and I had gone over. I tried to think of a strategy, and realized I hadn't exactly planned this out very well. I guess I would have to just go in and hope blind luck saved me like it always did.

By the seat of my fucking pants, as always.

I landed on the ground behind my usual tree outside of the meadow and prepared to transform back to human to make the final transition to Andalite.

Except-

Once I got there, I heard Brittany's thought-speak voice. She was talking to someone, and I was confused- why was Brittany here?

_[-to leave Earth for good,]_ she said coolly. I fluttered up to a tree branch so I could see what was going on. _[Tell them you never found me.]_

_[Why don't I just tell them you died?]_ Gesii sneered, glaring at Brittany with unrestrained hatred. My stomach clenched. Why was Brittany talking to Gesii? What the fuck was going on? What had I missed?

Brittany's voice softened considerably. _[No- that would make my parents sad.]_ She shook her head_. [No- tell them I'm missing. It will give them hope; and you- you can vow to my father to search for me until your dying day,]_ she said bitterly. _[It will ensure you stay in his favor. But we both know you will never find me. This way we both get what we want.]_

Gesii twitched his tail angrily. _[And what you want… is to stay human? That's cowardly-]_

Brittany shifted her weight. _[I'm not running,]_ she bristled. _[I'm choosing happiness.]_

My heart swelled in my chest. Was Brittany going to leave with me? Had she finally accepted that I was serious about her? My thoughts ran wild as I wondered what had changed her mind. Why had she suddenly decided to remain human? Why did she confront Gesii, of all people?

I was so busy wondering what had changed that I almost missed Brittany's exit. _Shit_. I scrambled off the branch and fluttered down to the ground. I closed my eyes and focused, and quickly began to change.

I shifted from kite to human to Andalite, and when I was done I stood, tall and powerful, on four strong legs, my hooves planted firmly. I felt like liquid power. I felt confident.

I felt ready to make Gesii pay.

It gave me grim satisfaction to watch his eyes fill with fear as I stepped menacingly into the clearing, brandishing my tail blade. I wondered if he understood what was happening; I wondered if he could recognize himself in my form, recognize Dafydd in my form.

_[Santana,]_ he said tightly. Ah. He wasn't dumb after all_. [I should've expected this.]_

_[Yeah. You should have,]_ I said, my voice coated with venom as I advanced on him like a panther.

He chuckled, trying to sound confident- but I could sense his nervousness. I hoped he could see the fire in my eyes, feel the intensity of my hatred for him. I liked to think that he could.

_[You didn't honestly come here to fight me, did you?] _He asked arrogantly. Oh, but I heard the tiny sliver of fear in his thoughts. He wasn't fooling me that easily. His fear made me feel even more confident, even more powerful, and I couldn't help but smirk inside.

_[Not to fight you- to kill you,]_ I clarified.

_[Santana, be reasonable,]_ he said, as if he were trying to talk some sense into me. _[I'm a four-time tailfighting champion-]_

_[Which is going to make my win so much sweeter.]_

He scoffed_. [You have no experience.]_

_[You have no fucking idea what my experience is, you incognizant bastard.]_ I advanced on him further, twitching my tail in excitement, anxiously wanting to sink it into his flesh. I didn't have formal _four-time champion_ training- but it was the difference between a boxer and a street fighter. I had no rules, nothing holding me back. My only thought was to make him hurt, to end his life for what he'd done to me- to _Brittany_.

My vengeful thoughts brought me closer, within reach. I scanned his body, observing the subtle differences between us- I had more muscle than Gesii's sleek form, but my muscles were more chiseled than Dafydd's had been. My tail blade was slightly bigger than his _four-time champion_ one, but with the same wicked curve that made his so deadly. My shoulders were broader. I was taller by a few inches.

All in all, I was one bad-ass Andalite. And I'm pretty sure Gesii realized that.

He snapped his tail suddenly, and I reacted instantly, snapping mine. I didn't block his blow completely, but I did manage to block it.

_[You're fast,]_ he commented, suddenly sounding a lot more worried.

_[As fast as you,]_ I sneered, raising my tail to strike again.

His eyes widened in realization, and I wondered if the thought that he might actually _lose_ crossed his mind. Surely he wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he wouldn't-

_[San- don't!]_ Brittany's voice called from my right. The sound startled me- she hadn't called me _San_ in-

I hesitated, but Gesii didn't- he whipped his tail forward and it cut deeply into my shoulder. I cracked my tail forward in retaliation and carved a gash into his left front leg. He recoiled quickly, shuffling just out of reach. We both glared at each other until Brittany moved to stand in front of me, and I immediately stopped.

_[Move, _vecisth_,]_ Gesii snarled.

I saw the hurt wash directly over Brittany's face at the cruel, derogatory word, and that's when the last of my patience left me and rage took over instead.

_[How dare you,]_ I hissed angrily, glaring at Gesii from over Brittany's shoulder. _[I'll cut you to fucking pieces for that-]_

_[Go ahead and try, pathetic savage!]_

_[San,]_ Brittany repeated softly, cupping my chin and turning my head to look at her, so that our main eyes met. Her fingers tingled where they touched my skin and I felt my anger calming as soothing pleasure radiated from her touch. My hearts slowed considerably- I felt lethargic. How was she even _doing_ that-

Her blue eyes turned darker and her fingers slid up the side of my face slowly; I could feel every millimeter of the pads of her delicate fingers as they burned a trail up my face.

Gesii made a disgusted noise in our heads and just like that, the spell was broken.

_[Britt,]_ I pleaded.

Brittany squared her shoulders, slid her hand down my arm to interlock our fingers, and moved to stand beside me.

_[Gesii, I'm giving you one last chance to leave respectfully,]_ Brittany said coldly. I squeezed her hand.

Gesii glared, kicked the ground with his front uninjured leg. _[And I'm giving you one last chance to live,]_ he smirked back. _[Britta, if you would stand against me with this alien, then you are regarded as a traitor to the Andalite military.]_

Brittany squeezed my hand back tightly before I heard her take a deep breath.

_[Honey- let's shut this douchebag up.]_

I couldn't stop the pleasurable smirk from lighting up my eyes, or my heart from pounding with adoration and pride.

_[It would be my pleasure.]_

* * *

The fight didn't last very long, but it definitely seemed like it did. It was a grueling eight minutes, which is a lot of split-second decisions if you think about it. Gesii managed to wound me deeply, several times. Brittany somehow tapped into my brain and was able to guide me to perform some techniques that I had seen her do but hadn't even considered attempting on my own. It was weird- very similar to how Affay guided me in the _frolis maneuver_, only far more intimate because it was Brittany invading my mind. Her personal knowledge of Gesii and Andalite anatomy helped me land a few hits, but Gesii was still the superior fighter.

_[Hah!]_ Gesii gloated as he landed a pretty severe cut to my right back leg. It buckled, and I balanced awkwardly.

_[Steady,]_ Brittany reassured me, and I felt her strength and calmness easing me. _[Gesii is tiring- your stamina- Dafydd's stamina- is greater than his. He is used to disabling his opponents with minimal rapid strikes, but you are not so easily defeated. He is getting sloppy- favoring his right side. He shifts his weight slightly just before he strikes.]_

I didn't answer, only scanned Gesii's body, waited for the sign that would inform me that Gesii was about to-

There!

I sidestepped, blocked his blow, and honed in on his completely open neck. _[You lose,]_ I sneered as my tail blade pressed to his throat.

_[You wouldn't,]_ he taunted, glaring at me, but he didn't move a muscle to test me. He was so pathetic.

_[You know _nothing_ about me,]_ I said, low and deadly, as I pressed the edge of my blade into his skin. He made a noise of surprise as it sunk into his flesh; blood began to drip down his chest.

_[San-]_ Brittany started

_[On your knees,]_ I hissed, and Gesii sank down carefully. I towered over him. I wanted to _execute_ him- I wanted to kill him, to end his life- to make sure he would never hurt Brittany again. But-

Brittany placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. I took a deep breath.

I didn't want to kill Gesii in front of Brittany- sweet, caring Brittany. I knew she could be ruthless, but she had let Gesii go. And her touch drained all my anger out of me.

Besides, if I killed him, he couldn't live with the humiliation of having been defeated by me- by _us_.

I glared at him. And slowly I pulled my tail away, listening to his heavy, intense breaths.

I took a step back, shaking my head_. [Your time will come,]_ I said_. [But not from me.]_

Brittany slid her hand down my arm- did she know I couldn't think when she did that?- and locked our fingers together again. I could sense her feelings pouring into my mind through our thought-speak link- a mixture of sadness, pride, and bittersweet happiness- and still that lingering emptiness beneath all of it.

_[Keep your word, Gesii. Leave Earth,]_ Brittany said, void of any emotion. _[Or lose everything.]_

Gesii glared. He seemed like he wanted to say something, and then-

TSEEWW!

Green light blinded me; Gesii glowed brightly for a split second before his atoms just- incinerated into nothing. I felt the heat from the blast on my face and chest, pulling Brittany behind me to protect her and raising my tail, ready to take on whoever had attacked us.

_[His time just came,]_ Affay said with dull satisfaction from a few paces away, her shredder still aimed at the spot where Gesii had just been. _[And now the ritual is complete.]_

Brittany nodded slightly while I stood- stunned, speechless. Affay offered us a grim smile.

_[Good bye, Brittany. Goodbye, Santana.]_

Without another word, Affay holstered her shredder and walked away.

* * *

I was silent for a long moment- again, unsure of what to say. My day had not gone the way I had expected it to, and I was definitely not prepared for the strange turn of events that unfolded. Affay had set Gesii up for me to kill him- but then killed him herself in the end, and Brittany- how the hell did she factor in to any of it?

I swiveled my stalk eye to look at her, and found her gazing at me with her main eyes, her expression hard to place. She was the one who eventually broke the weird silence that had settled over us._ [You confronted Gesii for me? For my honor?]_

I shrugged, feeling suddenly embarrassed. Was it for her honor? When she said it like that, it made me feel a little silly. I hadn't fought him so much for Brittany's _honor_, but more as a way to avenge her pain. But I guess fighting him had also been about straightening out once and for all that he had no claim over Brittany. So, really- _[Yeah,]_ I admitted, kicking the ground with my hoof. _[It's his fault you were hurt, B. And despite everything, he still believed he had some kind of right to- to own you or something, and you're your own person.]_

Brittany was silent, absorbing my words. I shifted, wondered what she was thinking. She had been so distant lately, and-

Tingles erupted over my skin, and it took me a second to realize Brittany had reached up to stroke my face. My mind went blank with a burning sort of euphoria.

_[And this form?]_ She asked softly, tracing fingers down my neck, her eyes curious, studying the effect her touch had on me.

_[Affay,]_ I said absently, not really concentrating on anything accept the pleasure of her touch on my skin, the way her fingertips left electric currents across my body.

_[I thought so.]_ She paused. _[Your eyes are yours.]_

I shivered, reaching up almost involuntarily to touch Brittany, to cup her face, and I was surprised at the jolt I felt when my fingertips connected to her skin, at the tingling in them that spread all the way through my hand like an electric wave, making my hearts flutter, making my blood race-

I tried to gather my thoughts, which were becoming scattered from Brittany's touch. I looked at her, concentrating hard on her face_. [Did you know?]_

Brittany guiltily dropped her eyes to the side. _[Yes. I didn't know how involved you were. I came to warn Gesii to leave Earth- I threatened to expose him for his crime- I thought maybe-]_

Woah, hold up. _[What crime?]_

Brittany reached up and played with my fingers, which were still resting on her face. _[He refused aid to a fellow Andalite, which resulted in her getting killed.] _Brittany brought her eyes to mine. _[In Andalite law, refusing aid is as bad as murdering that person.]_

_[Human law, too,]_ I snorted. Brittany smiled slightly at me with her eyes. My hearts skipped a beat.

_[According to Andalite custom, that Andalite's death has to be avenged by the eldest sibling or another family member,]_ Brittany continued, and it all clicked.

Affay was avenging her sister's death. That's why she had seemed so enraged at Gesii's behavior towards me- he had done the exact same thing to her. But it didn't make sense- _[Why didn't Affay just tell me that? Why did she lie?]_

Brittany shrugged. _[She didn't think you would understand our customs-]_

_[I understand revenge,]_ I said, narrowing my eyes.

_[Honey, I know that. Originally, she had hoped _I_ would be the one to help her- it's why she made the microholocube- but after seeing the dislike between you and Gesii, she thought you would be easier to convince.]_

_[Wait- so you tried to save Gesii? Even after everything…?]_ I asked incredulously.

Brittany nodded sadly. _[He was awful, but he was still someone I- knew. I thought maybe he had done it on accident, but once he confessed to me that it was true- and with my own knowledge that he had also done it to us- that's when I abandoned the idea. When you confronted him, it all made sense- how Affay gave you the microholo, how you suddenly had a new Andalite form- and then when Gesii called me-]_ she stopped. _[Well, I'm not sad that he's gone.]_

I couldn't help but look at Brittany with admiration. She always tried to see the best in people, even awful people. Even people like Gesii. Even people like _me_. She had seen the worst parts of me, had predicted my inability to keep my word, and yet, she was still standing before me. I took a deep breath through my- face slits, I guess; still weird- and pulled Brittany closer to me. _[Britt- you really are wonderful,]_ I told her softly, stroking her face. She shivered, cupping my hand fully and pressing it to her skin.

_[That feels so good.]_

I smiled at her through my eyes- I mean, I think I did? This not having a mouth thing was really confusing- and brought my other hand up to cradle her face completely, letting my fingers stroke down her cheeks. She grazed fingertips up my biceps, across my shoulders, and every single piece of fur stood on end, responded to the tingle she left.

_[You're so soft,]_ she murmured. _[But not as soft as when you're human.]_ She shifted closer, pressing the side of her face to the side of mine, and my whole body seemed to respond as Brittany wrapped her arms around me and held me close. I had no idea what had changed within her or why she was suddenly choosing to be intimate with me, to be near me again, but I wasn't going to question it. Even as an Andalite I enjoyed her presence and I just allowed myself to stand and revel in the attention I'd been starving for the past few days.

Instead, I let my thoughts drift back to what had just happened, and Brittany's role in it all. She was truly caring, especially of people undeserving of her. I had always known that, and sometimes felt like _I_ was a prime example. Despite everything she'd been through- despite the fact that Dafydd and Gesii had both treated her poorly, she still wanted to save them somehow, still looked out for the wellbeing of others. I thought back to what her Yeerk had said about her when he was in her brain- that she was an _intrinsically good Andalite_. I hadn't realized at the time what a big compliment that had been- let's face it, I had been occupied by other things, like how to get the fucker out. But no Yeerk, not even Brhaad, our ally, had ever said a good thing about an Andalite.

_[You're wonderful,]_ I said again absent-mindedly, basking in the feeling of Brittany's hands on my skin, tracing soothing circles on my shoulders and upper arms.

_[I don't feel wonderful,]_ she admitted sadly. _[I still feel- but- you're making me feel a lot better right now.]_

_[Yeah?]_ I nuzzled my face against hers.

She nodded against me.

_[I love you,]_ I told her, pouring every ounce of sincerity I had into my thoughts. _[I love you, and I'll always love you, no matter what happened in your past, no matter what memories haunt you, no matter what you do in the future, I'll never leave your side, Brittany. You need to know that.]_

Brittany hugged me tighter, pushed her face into my neck. It was a weird, but kind of nice, feeling being taller than Brittany for a change; being the protector, instead of always being saved by her. I wanted her to know that I would always protect her- that I would take care of her. I wanted her to believe me when I said I'd never leave her.

_[Britt- you never have to be an Andalite again,]_ I said quietly, trying to convince her again. _[I'll take care of you. I'll never leave you, and- and I won't let anyone hurt you again, ever-]_

_[Santana,]_ Brittany sighed, sounding sad and adoring at the same time. My hearts jumped. _[I- I know you will. I want to be with you, but I want to be with you because I _want_ to, not because I can't stand to be an Andalite anymore.]_

I pulled my head away from hers slightly_. [You don't want to?]_

_[I do,]_ she rushed to reassure me, tugging my face back to her. _[But I don't want you to think that that's the reason I'm staying-]_

_[I don't think that,]_ I said firmly. _[I'm the one asking you to change, to stay with me. Besides, what does it matter what the reason is- as long as I have you?] _

_[You're perfect,]_ Brittany whispered sadly. _[You're everything to me. Everything.]_

_[Then leave with me,]_ I pleaded. _[Leave with me, B. Nothing is keeping us in this war. We can go somewhere where the Yeerks won't find us- they won't care to.] _

Brittany hesitated. _[I want to more than anything, but-] _

_[But what?] _

_[But I'm still scared,] _she admitted in a small voice. _[If I do this- if I become human, Santana- I'm doing it because I want to be with _you_. I don't want anyone else, and if you ever decided that you did- I don't know what I would-]_

_[That's never going to happen,]_ I said. _[I'll never, never want anyone but you. It's you and me, me and you, both of us together.]_

Brittany smiled. Her eyes lit up a little, looking familiar for the first time in days. It made my heart pound.

_[Just promise me you'll think about it?]_

Brittany nodded, and I instantly felt a million times lighter.

* * *

Once we were back in the _Batcave_, Brittany grabbed my hand, pulling me back. "Wait, Santana."

I turned to look at her, studied her face. "Yeah?"

"About-" she swallowed. "About what we just talked about…"

My heartbeat picked up considerably. Did she mean- "About leaving together for a while?"

Brittany nodded nervously. "Yeah. I want to do it. I want to leave- with you."

I couldn't resist embracing her, crushing her to my body. "Oh, Britt- that's amazing. You're amazing. Are you sure? You- don't need more time?"

"I'm sure," she said. "I've been thinking about it since you asked me yesterday."

I pressed a firm kiss to her jaw and squeezed her one more time before pulling back and looking into her eyes. My heart felt so full I thought it might burst, and I knew I was grinning. Brittany's expression mirrored mine and I bit my lip, trying to contain my joy. This was it. We were finally leaving. Brittany was going to change- _permanently_- and then we could go somewhere safe and just _be_.

"When do we leave?" she asked, her smile wide and her eyes shining.

"Right now. As soon as we grab our things."

Brittany nodded and I felt like jumping into the air and doing a fist pump, I was so excited.

It was short-lived, however, when Sam met us at the door.

"We need to talk."

I raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. "No, we don't." I turned to Brittany and brought her hand to my mouth, pressed kisses over her knuckles. "Go get your things, B. I'll be right there, okay?"

Brittany nodded again before giving me one more last, hopeful smile, then reluctantly released my hand and wandered off to our room. I watched her go for a moment, my eyes lingering over her curves. I smiled to myself. Soon I'd get to trace her body forever-

"Santana?" Sam asked, and I sighed irritably.

"What do you want, Trouty? Can't you see I'm in the middle of packing?"

"You're leaving?" Sam asked incredulously, his tone quickly advancing straight to angry without passing _Go_ or collecting two-hundred dollars. Like he didn't fucking know this was coming? I already _told_ him-

"_Yes_, I'm leaving. I'm taking Brittany and-"

"You can't just leave," Sam hissed. "With great power comes-"

"This is _NOT_. A fucking _comic book,_ Sam!" I snarled, turning on him fiercely. Our eyes met and we burned holes in each other. "We are capable of _dying_. Brittany was infested-"

Sam snorted. "So was _I_."

"But you don't have anywhere _near_ the level of guilt and regret that she does. You have _no idea_ what she's been through, what she had to endure, and she's already done too much-"

"So- _what_?" he demanded, clenching his fists. "You're just gonna leave? And where will you go?"

I crossed my arms defensively. "Somewhere far away. I don't care. Does it even matter? An island, or-"

Sam offered me a sad smile. And then he brought up my worst fear. "You don't honestly believe the Yeerks won't find you, do you? Do you really think you'll be safe there?"

_No._

"Yes," I said, my voice sounding desperate, even to me, and I realized I was trying to convince myself as much as him. "And I plan to keep believing that until-"

"Cut the crap," Sam interrupted harshly. "Why don't you just take Brittany away on a vacation or something? Why do you have to leave for good? We have time, you know. Not a lot, but a little. Beiste is still in lockdown for another two days. You could just rent a hotel in the next town, spend some time away-"

I shook my head quickly. "No, I made up my mind."

"You can't just leave, Santana. You owe it to us- to _them_."

"What is this, the Mafia? Was Sugar right? I don't owe you _shit_," I hissed angrily. "I'm not making them stay in this- they're _choosing_ to. Well, what about me? I'm choosing to _leave_. I've done enough. _Brittany's_ done enough."

"And yet, the Yeerks are still here," Sam pointed out bitterly. "If you really want to keep Brittany safe, you'd get rid of them first."

I froze. Everything in my body turned cold, turned numb. He had hit on the one thing he knew I was scared of. The one thing I valued above all else. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out his words, and in that moment, I hated him. I hated him for being a good leader and knowing me- knowing us _all_- so well. I hated him for knowing how to manipulate me into doing what he wanted.

I shook my head slowly. "What do you want from me, Sam?" I demanded, defeated. Hadn't I done enough?

"To be unselfish," he said, and I recognized the old Sam in his tone. That's what hurt the most- that he wasn't some cold, detached, crazed version of himself- the person he'd been for the past few weeks. He was the Sam that had been my friend. The Sam that I _cared_ about. "Be unselfish," he repeated. "Something you've never _once_ been this whole way. Be unselfish, and put the fate of the world first. Be unselfish, and _let her go_, Santana."

"Never," I said lowly, my voice wobbling. What did the fate of the world matter if I didn't have Brittany? Without Brittany, _my_ world was over- which is why I had to protect her. I would do anything- _anything_- to accomplish that. I took a deep breath, resigning myself. "There _is_ no world without Brittany," I said, biting back tears. "I won't put her in danger again."

"Then get her out," Sam said, his tone hard to place, each word another nail in my coffin. "Get her out, but keep her safe. You're the only one who can."

His suggestion felt like a death sentence. Get Brittany out, keep her safe- and at what cost to me? "You'd have _me_ stay?"

"I need you, Santana. We need you. We don't stand a chance without you," he repeated, and I recalled my reply to his similar statement earlier in the day. Is that what he wanted? For all of us to go down fighting? But _together_?

I looked into his pleading, hazel eyes, took a deep breath, and steeled myself. "I'll agree to stay in this on one condition," I started, my tone more serious than I'd ever heard from myself. "I'm selfish; and _because_ I'm selfish, I want to keep Brittany safe. You can drag me into this but you _will not_ keep her in as well. She walks away, no questions asked. That's the only way I'll agree to this fuckery."

Sam gave me a long, hard look. He definitely didn't want to agree with my terms- Brittany was valuable, but he knew he couldn't have us both. He had to choose between letting us walk away, or trapping me, and he wasn't going to get nothing. "Fine," he said evenly.

I nodded absently, lost in my thoughts. I swallowed, my throat feeling tight. I suddenly couldn't breathe. My mouth was dry. My chest felt like it was being crushed. Had I just sentenced myself to death?

Had I just agreed to die?

_So that Brittany could live. _

"I hate you," I told Sam, but it came out sad and empty, with none of the conviction or venom I had hoped to fuel the words with.

Sam nodded, accepting my words. His eyes were sadder than I'd ever seen. He forced a shaky, humorless laugh and reached up to wipe away a stray tear, and I felt my own tears building.

"Not as much as I do."

* * *

After my talk with Sam, I felt reluctant to return to my room and face Brittany. How could I face her, knowing what I agreed to? And did I really _have_ to agree to it? I could still just take Brittany and run. I didn't want to die- I just wanted to be with Brittany. And now it seemed like I would never get the chance, like despite everything, Brittany and I would never be able to live out our lives together in peace like normal people.

I wanted to go to sleep next to her every night, to wake up to her every morning. I wanted to travel with her, to go to parties with her, to have stupid, boring jobs that we complained to each other about, to slow-dance in our kitchen while making dinner together, to make out on the couch in between watching old reruns of _Friends_, to rent our first apartment, buy our first house together and figure out where to put our Christmas tree (once I explained to her what it was.)

Was it so bad to want those things with her?

I could still leave. Nothing was holding me here except my word-

My _word_.

I felt my breath leaving me all at once. What would Brittany think of me breaking my word? I hadn't exactly let her down by breaking it to the Yeerk- but _still_. She deserved someone better, someone who was honorable, didn't she? And I wanted to be that person for her. I wanted to be better for her. Honorable for her.

Even if it meant dying.

But God, I didn't want to die.

I passed the entertainment room, where Quinn was sitting on the couch watching _Cartoon Network._ Puck was curled up next to her with his head in Esther's lap. The three of them had hopes, had dreams. They probably wanted Christmas trees, too, didn't they? And what about Kurt? What about Mercedes?

What about Sam?

All of us had dreams, had things that we wanted. None of us were bad for wanting things we couldn't have. I choked as I realized- _things we couldn't have. _

I paused at the door to my bedroom, composing myself, preparing myself to see Brittany. What was I going to say to her? How was she going to respond? I had spent the last few days trying to convince her to leave with me, and now I was going to have to tell her _just kidding_? What the fuck was wrong with me?

I took a deep breath as I entered, feeling my heart break as Brittany beamed at me. I forced a smile.

"I'm ready to go," she announced happily.

"Yeah?" I asked distractedly, scanning the room. She had a small orange rolling suitcase- I had no clue where she'd gotten it from- sitting on the bed.

Brittany nodded, and I moved closer to her, taking her hand in mine. It was now or never.

"Britt- Brittany," I started, my voice hoarse with emotion, betraying me already. I swallowed back my tears. Could I even tell her? Could I even get through this? I looked into Brittany's trusting blue eyes and felt my heart clench painfully.

No. I couldn't. I couldn't do that to her. Ignorance is bliss, and I'd rather Brittany be happy. I could be devastated enough for both of us. But what was I going to say? How was I going to-

Brittany's face fell suddenly. She could sense my hesitation, my shift in mood. Her breathing picked up, her eyes widened in panic. "D- did you change your mind?" Her voice cracked when she spoke, and I suddenly realized what my hesitation might have looked like to her. "You don't want to leave with m-me?"

"Britt-"

Brittany shook her head quickly, her eyes fearful, heart-wrenching. I watched as the light drained out of them and I'd never felt lower in my life. "I unders-s-stand," she said, her words tumbling out in an emotional rush. "I know that I've been hurt- but- but not beyond repair, San- Santana, I know I'm tainted, and that I have too much- too much history, and that you ch-changed your mind-"

"B, _no_-"

"-and that I'm too _stupid_-"

"No. No, Brittany, no, listen to me-"

Brittany continued to shake her head, squeezing her eyes shut. I grabbed her chin roughly and leaned forward, pressing my lips to hers. I held them there for a moment until she relaxed, and I had to stop myself from taking the kiss further. I wanted to so badly, I'd been craving her for _days_- but- I forced myself to pull away after a moment, and when I pulled back, her eyes met mine. Her eyes were so blue and perfect and I just wanted to stare into them forever, to keep her by my side _forever_, and suddenly-

"Marry me," I blurted.

"What?" she whispered, her eyes widening, but they were hopeful, desperate. A sliver of her old sparkle returned, and my heart thumped painfully at the sight. I missed it so much. All I wanted was to see it all the time.

"Marry me," I said again, firmer. More confident. "Right now. I told you I'd never leave your side. And I'm going to do whatever it takes to prove it to you, to reassure you." I dropped my eyes to my hands, which I was wringing nervously in front of me without realizing it. "I don't have a ring, or- or anything, but I want you, Brittany. Just you. And I'll always want just you. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life-" my voice trembled, I swallowed. My life. The rest of my _life_- how long would that be? How long?

I took a deep breath. "I know it's crazy- our lives have been crazy, and sometimes I feel like I might actually _be_ crazy, but you- you're the one who grounds me. So please- be crazy with me. Marry me."

Brittany stared at me for a moment, looking like she was trying to decide if I was real or not. I kind of felt the same way. I had just asked the girl of my dreams to marry me, and it felt like a small eternity before she was wrapping her arms around me and crushing her lips to mine. I slid my arms around her waist, pulling her in tightly to me, and kissed back, moaning at the feeling of her being in my arms after our separation. All I wanted to do was keep her there, always.

"Yes," Brittany breathed against my lips when she pulled back slightly. She rested her forehead against mine. "Yes, Santana- I'll be crazy with you."

I tried to be happy. Marrying Brittany was everything I'd ever wanted, right?

_There is no world without Brittany. _

But all I could feel was the lump in my throat, my time drawing nearer like Mandy Moore in that stupid _Walk to Remember_ movie. All I could think about was the fact that Brittany was going to be my wife-

I forced a smile.

How long would I be alive to enjoy it?

* * *

**Eesh, foreboding ending was foreboding. D:**

**BUT NEXT CHAPTER- FLUFF OVERLOAD as Brittana possibly, maybe, sort of TIE THE KNOT? Think they will? :D~**

**Review if you feel like it, but if you don't, well. That's okay, I guess. I'll catch you on the flipside!**

**See you next time! **


	38. Crazy

**HEY READERS.**

**I want to sincerely thank everyone who's been kind enough to read this story, and especially those who have shared your thoughts via review or PM. I really enjoy your praise, criticism, questions and enthusiasm. It makes me happy knowing you guys are enjoying this story, because I've really, really enjoyed writing it. **

**That being said, it's bittersweet for me to announce that there's only two more chapters left after this one, plus the epilogue. It's been one hell of a journey, but I hope you will all see it through to the very end with me. I hope you will like what's in store. **

**Okay, enough with that serious crap. Sorry for the delay! :D**

**Happy reading! **

* * *

"Are you sure?" I asked skeptically, looking down at the items in my palm- a prepaid Visa with an unspecified amount of money, and a set of car keys. I raised my eyes to Sugar's face, which held a reassuring and slightly too-enthusiastic-to-be-wholly-sane expression, and quirked an eyebrow.

"Should you really be turning this down?" she asked.

She had a point. "No, but- wait, weren't all your cars destroyed when the Yeerks bombed the everloving fuck out of your mansion?"

Sugar laughed like I'd said the most ridiculous thing in the world. "You really think that was _all_ my cars?"

I looked down at the keys in my hand. _This bitch_. "I guess not."

"Look, you need transportation. And I'm happy to help. Just take care of him, all right? He's one of my favorites."

"And you're trusting _me_ with it?"

Sugar made a shooing motion, like whatever concerns I had- let's face it, not many- were insignificant, and she nodded her head. "Consider it a wedding present," she said. "That and the Visa. Take yourselves out to dinner or something. Go to a strip club. Take money baths with the rest. I don't care."

Okay, now I was definitely intrigued. Just how much money did she _put_ on that thing? I stared at the small rectangle of glittering black plastic as if it would tell me how much money it contained, but it remained silent and so did the car keys. Not that I _actually_ expected them to talk, but, okay, honestly, I've seen stranger shit-

"Oh, and I almost forgot," Sugar added. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper, then winked as she handed it to me. "I booked you a hotel."

"Uh- wow. Thanks," I said slowly, unsure how to respond to the fact that Sugar was taking way too much of an interest in my wedding, and it was unnaturally fucking creepy.

"Oh, don't thank me until you get there."

Something about her tone made me really suspicious, and I felt a tiny bit of dread at what kind of hotel she could have possibly booked us, and _where_-

"Everything's all taken care of, so get going." She looked at her wrist, where a watch should've been, but she wasn't wearing one. Did that stop her? Nope. "You need to leave soon or you won't make it back."

"We're coming back?" Brittany asked from beside me. Sugar raised an eyebrow and I ignored her, turning to Brittany and taking her hand. I brought it to my lips and kissed the back of it softly, catching her eyes.

"Yes," I said. "We've got to get our stuff, B."

Brittany looked confused, but I didn't elaborate. I swallowed. I still hadn't worked out how I was going to tell her that I was staying- and she _wasn't_. I squeezed her hand at the thought and took a deep breath. I'd worry about that later. First things, first.

We had to get married.

* * *

"Holy shit."

My eyes fell to the car parked in what was left of the collapsed garage. It obviously hadn't been parked there during the attack- Sugar must have sent someone to pick it up recently. It was sleek and polished to the point where I could see my reflection in the shimmery, white-painted, spotless metal. I didn't know what kind of car it was- I'm not an expert, all right?- but it looked like something straight out of a James Bond movie- or maybe an Iron Man one. Actually, it looked a _lot_ like-

"That's an Audi R8," Brittany said monotonously as she approached the car, towing her small orange suitcase behind her. She trailed her fingers against the sleek, white surface.

"How do you know, B?" I asked, moving to stand next to her and lacing our fingers together. I pressed a quick kiss to her shoulder as she answered.

"I like cars."

The news surprised me, but made me smile. Brittany was getting a hobby. "Yeah? Do you want to drive?"

Brittany looked at me, and her eyes softened with a variety of emotions. She looked- touched, really. Like she couldn't believe I was trusting her with something so important. I held out the keys to her in emphasis, jingling them slightly, and smirked.

Brittany shook her head slowly. "I don't know where we're going."

I shrugged. "Neither do I. But I'm sure this thing has a killer GPS system. I'll put in the address, baby. The car will tell you where to go."

"Humans have that technology?" Brittany asked, awed.

I laughed. "Yeah- although I know you haven't seen much of it in my old piece of shit or Kurt's SUV. But yes, we do." I jingled the keys at her again, and she bit her lower lip before she accepted them, the most adorable blush spreading across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. I felt my heart melting and couldn't resist leaning forward to press a quick kiss to her lips.

Or, at least- it was supposed to be a quick kiss. Brittany surprised me by wrapping her arms around me and pulling me into her body, and I felt my heartbeat accelerating, my breathing picking up as she swiped her tongue across my bottom lip and then sucked on it. I groaned lowly- she was driving me crazy, and we hadn't exactly been intimate recently, so I had a lot of built-up sexual frustration that I hadn't realized I'd accumulated, because I'd been so focused on other things. When I felt Brittany's hand squeeze my ass, I realized we needed to get going or we'd probably end up having sex on the car. Not that I was really complaining, but-

"B," I breathed as she broke the kiss to press wet, open-mouthed kisses down my neck. I shivered, my hips pressing forward instinctively.

"I love you," she whispered in my ear, and the words travelled straight to my chest, making my heart pound in response.

"I love you, too," I answered, turning my head to nudge my nose against her jaw. She held me close for another moment before she released me with a reluctant sigh, and the beginnings of a pout on her beautiful face. I reached up and playfully thumbed her bottom lip, and she smiled in response, looking at me with those eyes that made my knees week.

I cleared my throat and chivalrously reached for her rolling orange suitcase, which had a couple of my outfits, too (not that I hoped I'd be needing them, if you catch my drift) and then tugged it around to the back of the car, pressing the _trunk open_ button. When nothing happened, I stared blankly at it until I realized that the hood of the car had popped open. I blinked. Uh, okay.

I towed the small suitcase back to the front and stared under the hood where the engine should be- but instead there was a small, carpeted cubby. The trunk. Shaking my head, I put the suitcase inside and pressed the button for the trunk (hood?) again, and it closed like the door to a spaceship, all in slow motion and shit (and I can actually say that, because I've seen what a spaceship door looks like when it closes) while I watched in fascination. Technology, man.

I rolled my eyes at myself. I'd seen space ships, aliens, and other incredible things, and I was marveling over a manmade _car_?

Brittany pecked my cheek quickly. "Thank you," she said softly, and I turned to her and smiled.

"Britt- I have something for you," I said nervously. At her curious expression, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the firm envelope Sugar had given me two days ago, then placed it in her hand.

"What is this?" she asked, looking down at the envelope. Then she looked up at me, confused.

"I got you an identity, Britt," I explained softly.

Brittany shook her head slowly, and I saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. My eyes widened in panic. "I know- knew- but I still can't believe you did this for me," she said, her voice wavering. She looked up; her eyes were glassy. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, but- wait- you knew?"

Brittany nodded. "The day I confronted Gesii, I- was up early. I couldn't sleep, and I was conflicted about what we had talked about- about me remaining human with you. I needed some air, but as I was leaving, Sugar found me, and asked how I was doing. I- I broke down and confessed about my conflicted feelings. I thought maybe- she could understand, having been a Controller, and with the war and everything. And that's when she told me…"

"Told you what?" I asked, panicked. Did Sugar know I had agreed to stay in the war? No, that's impossible- they'd talked before I'd even made that decision.

"What you'd d-done," Brittany said with a watery smile. She reached up to rub a tear away. "It's what prompted me to make the decision to stay human- to stay with you."

"Oh," I said, feeling my heart pounding again. This perfect girl was going to give me a heart attack, I swear.

"Can I- Can I open it?" Brittany asked suddenly, thumbing the edge of the envelope.

"Yeah," I said with a nod. "I haven't even looked in it, myself." For a split second I thought about what a dumb decision that was. Sugar could've given Brittany documents with some crazy name like Gaylord Weiner or something. Oh, God. I reached forward to graze fingertips up Brittany's forearm to reassure myself.

Brittany wriggled her hand inside the envelope and pulled out several items- a plastic driver's license, a passport, a social security card, and a birth certificate. According to Sugar, all legitimate, even though all of the information on them was fabricated. I moved forward to look at the documents as Brittany perused them, impressed by how thorough Sugar had been. My heart gave a stupid flutter at the fact that Brittany was "born" in the same hospital I was. Brittany held up the driver's license to inspect it, and a perfect picture of her smiled back beautifully. I was a little disturbed at how Sugar managed to get such a picture, but then I decided not to think about that and instead grinned as I remembered what a much better driver she was than Sam-

"Brittany S. Pierce?" She looked up at me. "What does the _S_ stand for?"

I shrugged. "Whatever Sugar picked, I guess. Hopefully it's not _Sugar_." I shuffled the documents so I could read the birth certificate. "It's _Susan_. Your middle name is Susan."

"Brittany Susan Pierce," Brittany said, trying it out. My heart did that fluttering thing again. I hoped it wasn't a symptom of some terrible heart disease or something. Brittany looked over the documents. "What's all this for?"

"It's so that you're _real_, Brittany," I said fondly. "Humans require identification from each other. If you didn't have it, people wouldn't know who you are-"

"Couldn't I just tell them?" Brittany scrunched her nose up cutely, and I smiled.

"Well- _yes_- but you'd have no proof. What if I just told you my name was Mike Chang?"

"But that's not your name."

I raised an eyebrow. "But how do you know?"

Brittany mulled that over for a moment. "I didn't realize humans were so mistrusting of each other."

I laughed. "Are you sure you want to _marry_ one?"

Brittany looked at me seriously, her eyes doing that sparkling thing again. "Yes."

And there went my heart again. Just- pounding away.

"I just don't understand why I need a square of plastic with my picture on it, that seems to be pretty easy to fabricate, in order to do so." Brittany still looked confused, so I took her hand, which was still holding the driver's license, and pushed it back towards the envelope, so that she'd put it away.

"Look, it will make sense eventually," I said gently as she stuffed the documents carefully back in the cardboard sleeve. I swallowed. "You have all the time in the world to figure it out."

Brittany smiled. "With you."

I nodded, forcing my voice to sound normal. "With me."

_I hope. _

* * *

I had to admit, even just riding in the Audi- or whatever Brittany said it was- was really, really cool. Brittany looked incredibly sexy behind the wheel, and I spent some time playing with the super-advanced HD instrument panel screen in the center of the dashboard. I typed in the address Sugar had given me and the GPS chimed in with directions every so often, but instead of the usual English accent, the robotic woman that gave us directions had the worst _island_ accent I'd ever heard. It sounded like Miss Cleo was about to give us a tarot reading in between road directions or something. I guess Audi didn't do _everything_ perfectly. The voice made Brittany giggle, though, so I didn't bother trying to change it.

Brittany drove like a pro, and I have to say, I was impressed. She kept her hand on mine except when she needed to shift gears, but once we got out onto the highway (in record time) her hand didn't leave mine. It was comfortably silent between us as we made our way to a state that would actually allow us to get married. I didn't have time to be appropriately bitter about it; I was actually thankful to get away for a while.

We pulled over every two hours to get gas, get snacks, and so that Brittany could use the restroom to transform to restart her time limit. We hadn't exactly talked about her staying human _permanently_ yet- and I didn't want to bring it up. I was enjoying the aura between us too much, and maybe that was being selfish of me, but fuck, if I was going to go on a mission where dying was a very probable outcome in a matter of days, I deserved to be a little selfish, didn't I? For now, two hours was okay.

As I rode along, I thought about my decision to marry Brittany, and the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced it was a good idea. Sure, I hadn't exactly told Brittany that I was going to go off and possibly die in a couple of days- but even if I did, I honestly doubt she would change her mind. Brittany had chosen this life, with me- and even though I was cutting it short, it was still something she chose. Right?

Besides, it's not like she was stuck as a human yet. She was still an Andalite. And if I died, she could still be an Andalite and go live out her life however she would have if she'd never met me- but at least the option to be human, to stay human, was there for her. And she would always have this memory, this connection with me that no one else would ever have.

I took a deep breath and shook myself out of my morbid thoughts. Definitely shouldn't be thinking about dying on my wedding day. My breath hitched. _My wedding day._ Holy fuck. I was going to marry Brittany. We were getting _married_.

I squeezed Brittany's hand, and she smiled at me, sensing how nervous I was. Was she nervous? Did she understand enough about human culture to even be nervous? Brittany lifted my hand to her lips and kissed it, and I calmed a little. Brittany might not be aware of the built-up social pressures humans placed on marriage, but I know she understood what a big step we were taking together. I mean, Andalites committed to each other for life, too, right? And they were nothing if not ceremonial. So I'm sure she knew how big a deal this was for us. I grinned at the thought.

Eventually I put on the radio, and goofily sang along. Brittany caught on quickly to the tunes of songs, and usually by the second chorus she was able to sing with me, and the drive seemed to go by faster, even though it still took forever because I was so anxious. Not to mention being so close to Brittany was not helping my sexual frustration in the slightest. I tried to push those frustrations away and just focus on Brittany, who was currently singing a Ke$ha song and sounding adorable doing so.

On our last gas stop before our final destination (no pun intended) I grabbed Brittany's collar and tugged her forward roughly across the console to crash our lips together. I heard her breath hitch and her palm hit the side of my leather seat to catch herself, and I reached up to tangle fingers in her hair. I teased my tongue against hers fleetingly, and she didn't bother to contain the moan that rumbled up from her chest. It set my nerves on fire, and I gripped her shirt tighter in my fist, pulling her even closer. Even just the simple act of kissing her had already excited my entire body, and I felt my pulse pounding _everywhere_. After a few long, intense moments, I pulled away and stared into her darkened eyes. She was panting and breathless and I pressed one more gentle, innocent kiss to her lips before I straightened her shirt collar and placed my palm on her collarbone, pushing slightly.

"Go get the gas," I said sweetly, handing over the Visa. The domesticity of the situation sent a pleasant tingle through me. "We're almost there."

Brittany didn't say anything, only closed her mouth and swallowed, struggling to get her breathing under control. She offered me a smile as she accepted the black plastic card and climbed out of the car. My eyes immediately fell to her ass and I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, pulling a hand through my hair.

It was going to be a loooong night.

* * *

"This is it?" Brittany asked as she pressed a button on the keys. The car chirped in response to let us know it was locked; I stared up in disbelief at the neon glowing sign that said _Holy Holly's Holy Holliday_. It was still late afternoon, so the sign wasn't all that impressive. Maybe it would look better at night, but I really doubted it. I cringed at the terrible pun in the name of the building and turned to Brittany, reaching for her hand.

"This is it," I confirmed as I locked our hands together. "Are you ready?"

"So ready," Brittany said with a slightly nervous grin, and it made me smile. At least I wasn't the only one who was nervous.

"Hey," I said softly, reaching up to cup her cheek. I pulled her into a slow, loving kiss, and when I pulled back, I rested my forehead against hers and squeezed her hand. "You're sure you want to do this?"

"Are you having second thoughts?" Brittany asked playfully, though I could hear the underlying tone of fear in her words.

I shook my head slowly. "Never. You're all that I want, Britt."

I heard her release a deep, shaky breath. "You're all I want, too."

I smiled and wordlessly tugged her towards the professional-looking glass door. I grabbed the handle and gave Brittany one more adoring glance over my shoulder. She smiled at me reassuringly and I pulled the door open and we entered the lobby.

The first thing I noticed was that it was small, and kind of decrepit. It looked very similar to the waiting room at the DMV, only smaller, with about three folding metal chairs. There was only one desk and behind it sat a lean, thin woman with long, straight blonde hair. She was arguing with someone on the phone as I approached.

"…oh, no, you tell Salinger's attorney that half that sex tape is my property… that's right, and he should've left it to me in his will, but that didn't happen. It still doesn't negate my claim on-" The woman paused to tinkle her fingers at me in a friendly greeting. I looked over my shoulder to make sure she was actually waving at _me_, because she smiled like she knew who I was. I waited awkwardly, and she pointed to a sign on the front of the desk.

_**TAKE A NUMBER**_.

I stared at the sign for a moment before I saw that there was a red little number machine like the kind they had at the deli in the grocery store perched next to it. Unsurely, I plucked a little paper number from the machine. It said _47_. I looked up at the little _Now Serving_ board, and it said _23_. I sighed. We were probably in for a long wait, which confused me, because there was literally no one else in the lobby.

Hesitantly, I tugged Brittany over to the metal chairs and we sat down to wait.

"…no, _you_ listen to _me_. If I don't have that sex tape in my possession by the end of the month, I'm going to court, and I'll let my lawyer smash you up like a pack of Wasa Crackers."

I tapped my foot and wondered how long this was going to take. I was growing more anxious by the second, and more annoyed. The only thing keeping me from bolting out the door was Brittany's hand in mine- was _Brittany_, period. The whole situation was intimidating, and now that we were actually _here_ it was starting to sink in, but I didn't want anything more than I wanted to be Brittany's, and wanted her to be mine.

I tuned out the blonde woman's conversation and instead focused on the music playing in the lobby- Cee Lo Green's _Fuck You_. It surprised me, because it was not the edited version. Weren't we in like, a holy place or something? Isn't that what the sign said?

The sound of the phone slamming in the receiver startled me out of my thoughts and I looked up at the lady behind the desk, who was grinning at me like I was the most interesting person she'd ever seen. She pressed a button and the _Now Serving_ board dinged and _24_ appeared. When I made no move to get up, the blonde woman looked confused. She pressed the button again.

_Now Serving: 25._

I shook my head at her.

She pressed it again. _26_.

I stared at her. She huffed and got out of her chair, marched over to the little red machine and plucked a paper number from it. Her eyes widened for a moment before she moved back to her chair and pressed the button another twenty times. I felt my blood slowly starting to boil at the repeated _ding_ noise the board made as it counted up, and Brittany squeezed my hand, calming me. But barely.

Finally, it reached _47_.

I huffed and stood up, tugging Brittany with me.

"Hey, chickadees," The lady greeted with an enthusiastic smile as we approached. "Are you here for the lesbian sex seminar?"

"Uh- _what_?" I asked.

Brittany shook her head. "No, we are already properly informed on how to have lesbian sex," Brittany said matter-of-factly. I'm pretty sure I wanted to crawl into a corner and die.

Blonde Woman looked slightly upset. "Oh. Okay. Well, remember- sex is like hugging- only wetter."

"Much wetter," Brittany agreed with a nod.

Thank God for tan complexion.

The woman- Holly, I read off the professional-looking nameplate perched on the desk- leaned back in her chair and made a pyramid with her fingers. "O-kaaaay, so you're not here for the sex seminar. What're you here for, then?"

I looked nervously at Brittany, unconsciously squeezing her hand. "We want to get married."

Holly nodded understandingly, offering us an encouraging smile. "Cool! Fill out these forms." She reached down next to her and tugged out a clipboard. She frowned for a moment at it before wiping at the corner with her thumb, and then shrugged before thrusting it at me. I accepted it gingerly.

"Do you have government-issued I.D.? And before you answer," Holly placed a hand next to her mouth as if she was telling as a secret, "do you _need_ 'government-issued' I.D.?" She winked and made air quotes with her other hand, and I couldn't figure out if she was crazy or just plain nuts. Either way, I kind of liked her- I think?

"Yes!" Brittany said enthusiastically in answer to Holly's first question, and she reached into her pocket and pulled out her shiny, new driver's license. "I know about human identification. I am properly identified." She handed the plastic card over with a proud smile, and Holly looked at her like _she_ was the one who was nuts as she collected it, and mine, and turned to her ancient-looking copy machine.

I glanced down at the clipboard and felt a weird sense of déjà vu. I hadn't filled out papers on a clipboard since my physical for Cheerios this past year. Shaking my head slightly, I moved to sit back down on the metal folding chair and Brittany plopped down next to me, peering over my shoulder as I filled in each box.

Brittany didn't let go of my right hand as I scrawled our names across the top of the paper, taking a second to admire how well they fit together. It was all I could do to keep from drawing a stupid heart between our names, I was that smitten with how they looked side-by-side on the form. I felt like such a sappy moron, but honestly, I couldn't help it. And I didn't really want to try.

"Do you want to keep your last name?" I asked absently as I reached the box in question. We hadn't really talked about that. Or- well, _anything_, really. But I guess now was as good a time as any.

"Did I lose it?" Brittany wondered. She looked around briefly and I smiled.

"No- it's just. I don't know, customary for the wife to take her husband's last name."

"But you're also a female," Brittany pointed out. She raised her eyebrow slyly at me. "Are you the husband in this relationship, Santana?"

I felt a blush creeping onto my cheeks. "I didn't mean, like, for _us_, I just meant, you know, in general, humans," I said, stumbling over my words. I bit my lip. "You don't have to change your name, B."

Brittany looked at me seriously. "Why would I change it? I just got it."

I giggled nervously. "I don't know. I've never done this before."

"Do you want to change yours?" she asked curiously. I chewed my lip and thought about taking Brittany's last name. I hadn't realized how much that idea appealed to me until I had it, but- No. If Brittany decided to stay human, then she needed the resources _my_ last name would give her. At least she'd have my family to look after her. Which reminded me- I needed to set up some kind of communication with my parents. I sighed. I could do that later.

I shook my head slowly, coming out of my thoughts. "Let's just keep our own names, for now. We can worry about the rest of it another time."

"Okay," Brittany agreed happily, playing with my fingers. My heart pounded as I finished writing in the random information, occasionally referencing Brittany's documents, and when I was done, I handed her the clipboard and pen.

"You have to sign it," I explained as Brittany shot me a puzzled look.

"What?"

"Write your name, B."

"But I don't know how to write."

"Well then just scribble or something, honey. They're not gonna know. I just- I want you to sign it." I don't know what it was, but I wanted Brittany to make her own mark on that page, instead of having me do it for her. It was like the final reassurance I needed that she wanted this, that she was consenting to it. That she wanted to be with me for _as long as we both shall live_. I swallowed as Brittany took the pen and drew a ziggity scribble on the line I pointed to.

When she was finished, she looked at the pen like it was the most amazing invention humans had ever created.

"Santana!" she beamed proudly, grinning in awe at her ziggy line. "Look-"

I couldn't help but laugh. My heart felt full and bursting, and I squeezed her hand. "I see, Britt."

I took the clipboard back from her (but let her keep the pen) and glanced over it again before taking a deep breath and leading us back up to the desk.

"Ready?" Holly asked as I handed her the clipboard. At my my nod, she reached under the desk and procured another sign that she plopped next to the first one. This one said:

_**Hitchin' Up Some Bitches**_

_**Because EVERYONE Deserves to be Miserable**_

Then she opened a drawer and pulled out a long white scarf, which she looped messily around her neck before draping the ends over the front of her shoulders, so they laid against her chest. I had to admit it made her look slightly more authentic and pastorly. But still. Come on.

She waved us to the back towards a metal door. "Right this way, ladies."

We cautiously followed her into a room that was a lot more impressive than the lobby. It was like every cheesy wedding cliché threw up all over the inside. In the doorway was a sign proclaiming it to be the _{Oasis of Love}_ and I gawked at all of the overabundance of romance. Rose petals littered the pathway to a tiny altar that had candles covering every single inch, which Holly was currently lighting with a torch-style lighter that had hunting camouflage print on it. Above the altar was a white wooden arch that had red, white, and pink fake roses woven into it, and fake vines creeping up the sides. All around there were huge plants and pots of flowers- it was like a tropical jungle, really. A fake tropical jungle. I half expected an anaconda to come slithering out of the ferns placed strategically by my side. In fact-

"Okay, here's the ditty, ladies," Holly began, addressing us once she'd reached the altar and a podium that looked like a totem pole. "According to this great state, you're basically already married, but we might as well have a ceremony while we wait for the license to print- and I've gotta level with you, it's an old, old machine."

"Awesome," I muttered. But I didn't mind. I looked up into Brittany's face and took both her hands in mine, pulling her close, so that she was only a step away. I could see every freckle across her nose, and I slid my eyes over her face, memorizing her features, even though I'd already done it a thousand times before. I would never get tired of looking at her. Of being close to her. Of holding her hand- I squeezed it in emphasis.

"Sooo… I've got nothing," Holly said suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. "You're gonna have to say your own vows."

I nodded to show I'd heard her, but didn't take my eyes from Brittany's gently smiling face. I took a deep breath. "We've been through a lot," I started shyly, feeling stupid and stroking fast, nervous circles on Brittany's hand with my thumb. "And despite everything, sometimes I feel like I'm in a dream; like I'm going to wake up and have to go to school, and to Cheerios practice, and everything that's happened to me- to us- will fade away. You're too good to be true, Brittany, and I want you to know that I don't think I could dream up anyone more perfect than you are."

"Aww," Holly cooed, interjecting. I shot her a dirty look before continuing. It didn't seem to faze her.

When my eyes locked back with Brittany's, hers were sparkling, and I felt my heart skip a beat. "When I asked you to marry me, I realized the kind of life I want- and the kind of life I _don't_ want. And I don't want a life without you. I love you more than anything, and I promise I'll never stray from you. I'll never leave you. I'll probably fuck up and hurt you again in the future, but I promise to always make it right. Ah, man-" I paused to gather my emotions. I took another deep breath. "I'm not good at this. But- I want to be with you. Always. I love you, Brittany."

"Aww," Holly cooed again, and I did my best to ignore her.

Brittany squeezed my hand before she smiled widely at me. "I know what I'm supposed to say," she said confidently with a small nod. "I saw a human wedding on the television set once."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Holly give Brittany a bewildered look before a hesitant, unsure "…aww…?" filled the small pause in Brittany's speech.

"I do," Brittany said with a wide, confident smile. And I couldn't help but grin in return, especially when she turned to Holly and asked, "Can I kiss the bride now?"

Holly grinned like a maniac. "I thought you'd never ask."

Brittany turned back to me with an unfailing smile and I didn't hesitate to close the gap between us and press my lips to hers. Brittany wrapped her arms around my shoulders, pulling me closer, and I slid mine around her waist, pressing our hips together. She moaned in my mouth, massaging the base of my skull and driving me crazy, and I didn't even care how uncomfortable we were probably making Holly as Brittany slid her tongue into my mouth and our kiss grew even more heated.

When I finally pulled back for air, completely out of breath, Brittany pressed a kiss to where my dimple would be, and I plastered what I was sure was the dopiest, most idiotic grin on my face. The sound of crunching made me turn and I looked over to find Holly with her hand in a small bag of white cheddar popcorn.

"Oh, no, don't stop just because I'm here," she said. She lifted another handful of popcorn to her mouth and I couldn't even roll my eyes, I was just too fucking happy. I was practically bouncing on my toes.

"Can I have some?" Brittany asked, reaching forward.

All I could do was laugh.

My laughter died and turned into a hard roll of my eyes when Holly cued up some music.

_When the sun shines, we'll shine together_

_Told you I'll be here forever_

_Said I'll always be your friend_

_Take a note, I'mma stick it out till the end_

Holly threw a handful of sparkling confetti over us. The pieces hit me in the face and I huffed in annoyance, but I couldn't fool Brittany- she poked my cheek and my huge moronic grin returned.

"Ella, ella, eh, eh, eh," Brittany chanted as we left the room.

I just shook my head and squeezed her hand, smiling like a fool. Especially when Brittany whispered, "See? Humans play with mouth sounds, too."

* * *

"Okay, so it's official. This is your copy," Holly said, handing me a piece of paper. "And this," she added, handing me a few small rectangles of paper, "is a book of coupons for _Tibideaux's Tacos_."

"What?" I deadpanned.

"What do you mean, _what_? They're only the best tacos on the planet!"

"Is this another lesbian sex joke?" Brittany wondered. "If it is, I really enjoy tacos-"

"Oh, my god, you're like a total drag," Holly complained, snatching back the coupons.

"What the hell," I growled. "Are you going to give me the coupons so we can leave, or not?"

Holly gave me a slow smile before handing me the pack of small, glossy papers. "I thought you'd never ask." I took the coupons and quickly tugged Brittany to the door, slightly desperate to leave the craziness that was _Holy Holly's_, wondering what the fuck even just happened. As we reached the exit, I heard Holly call, "See you later, dudes!" and okay, it could have been so much worse. It could have been boring. At least it was a memorable experience. And we _did_ get some free tacos.

Outside, it was just starting to get dark, and I couldn't help smiling and blushing as Brittany opened the car door for me. Some people on the street gawked at the car, gawked at _us_ (because come on, we are both insanely hot) but I didn't care. I pulled Brittany into my arms to give her a kiss by the Audi.

"We're married," I said, breathless. "We're _married_."

"We're married," Brittany confirmed with an openly adoring smile.

"Wanna get some tacos?" I joked.

Brittany poked my dimple again. "I _really_ enjoy tacos."

I giggled and kissed her cheek before sliding into the passenger seat of the Audi, pretty sure that Brittany wasn't actually talking about tacos.

* * *

It turned out _Tibideaux's Tacos_ actually did have some of the best tacos on the planet. That _I'd_ ever tasted, anyways. And that's saying something. The place was a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. It was like- super, _upscale_ tacos. I used my fake I.D. and ordered us champagne, and basically spared no expense. We had an appetizer, a full course, dessert, coffee, drinks- it was a pretty snazzy affair, and it was really nice to indulge for a change. I'd definitely have to thank Sugar for making it all possible.

Speaking of which- the hotel. Sugar had booked us a _hotel_. My mouth went dry at the thought. My eyes hadn't left Brittany's all night. I could literally feel the electricity in the air between us as we stared into each other's eyes over our champagne glasses. I traced my eyes over her lips, over her pink tongue when she licked melted cheese off of her finger, and my heart pounded in my chest with anticipation, with plain old nerves. My skin tingled. I felt charged with overwhelming sexual energy and when the check came, I bounced my leg anxiously as I handed over my coupons.

"I'm going to change real quick," Brittany said softly as the waitress disappeared with the leather folder. I nodded- it was a good idea. The transformation would negate the effects of the champagne. Brittany wasn't showing any signs of being drunk but it was still safer not to drive. She stood up and trailed her fingertips up my forearm as she walked by, leaving a burning path on my skin. I bit my lip and tried to control myself as she walked away, and got lost in my thoughts.

"You're a lucky woman," a lady said, striding up to my table. I raised an eyebrow at her. Who is this bitch?

The lady was dressed in a sharp business suit with a patterned dress shirt underneath. She had dark skin and her black hair was braided into small braids which were then gathered up in a ponytail. She wore glasses, and her smile seemed friendly enough. I offered her a smile in return. I had a slight buzz going and was just feeling too good not to.

"Carmen," she said as she stuck out her hand. I took it, shaking it reluctantly, still not sure why she'd bothered to introduce herself. "Here's your receipt, by the way," she added, handing me the leather folder with my Visa card and the mentioned receipt. I peeked at the bill, doing a mental fist pump at how cheap the entire dinner turned out to be. I mean, okay, I wasn't paying a single cent of my own money, but I still had an eye for a bargain. I tucked my Visa away and noticed Carmen was still hovering.

"I see you just came from Holly's," she said. At my nod, she continued. "It's nice to see young people getting married. You seem like you love her very much."

Ignoring the underlying confession that screamed Carmen had been watching me and Brittany like a song by _The Police_, I instead answered, "More than anything."

Carmen gave me a soft smile, and then I felt Brittany's hand on my shoulder. I reached up with my hand to cover hers, and looked up at her. "I'm ready."

"Okay," Brittany said happily, helping me to my feet. I snatched up my small purse and laced our fingers together.

"Have a great evening," Carmen said. "And come back and see us."

"Thank you," I told her. I still didn't know why she had even approached me.

"Who was that?" Brittany asked.

I shrugged. "No idea, B." My grip on her hand tightened as I realized _this was it_. We were going off to our hotel. Our _honeymoon_.

We got in the car, and I punched in the address.

And then held my breath.

* * *

"You have _got_ to be kidding me."

Okay, I didn't hold my breath the whole way- come on now, I would've passed out, let's be serious. And then I never would've gotten to smack the shit out of Sugar when I got back for the hotel she booked us. I stared at the entrance in horror.

"_Branson_?" Brittany asked. She looked at me. "Is that a place, or-"

"It's a place, B," I said quickly, taking in the incredibly cheesy flashing neon lights on the exterior of the building. One of them was in the shape of a cowboy hat.

Brittany grinned. "It looks fun."

Her enthusiasm soothed me and I sighed. "Let's go. I don't think it can get any crazier than _Holy Holly's Holy Holliday_."

We entered the building and I realized- boy, was I wrong.

Upon entering the lobby I felt like I'd been teleported to- well, Branson. There were autographed pictures of artists, posters of various theatrical events and shows, and a life-sized statue of a Native American, you know- the kind usually found outside of tobacco shops. Brittany gaped at him with an awed smile on her face. Giving her hand a brief squeeze, I left her to inspect the chipped paint on his headdress while I moved to the front desk to take care of business.

As I approached, I noticed several things. First- there was a gigantic box of Franzia wine sitting in a tray of ice. Second- the blonde woman behind the counter had her cowboy-boot-clad feet propped up on it while she flipped through a copy of the _Enquirer_ that screamed about the latest Kim Kardashian scandal. She looked like she'd already had one _too_ _many_ boxes of Franzia to be working behind that desk. But she plastered on the biggest smile upon spotting me and gave me a jaunty wave. I smiled politely and prepared myself for what was sure to be another encounter with a crazy blonde woman as _We've Got Tonight_ played out over the lobby speakers.

"Well, hello, there, honeys!" She said. I furrowed my eyebrows. She tipped her cowboy hat at me, and I blinked. Was she for real? I looked at her nametag. April. _Perfect_. "Lookin' for a place to park those firm behinds?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. Was she referring to Brittany, too? I looked over my shoulder and spied Brittany having an animated conversation with the Native American statue. I laughed slightly and turned back to where April was looking slightly cross-eyed.

Oh. She probably thought there was two of _me_.

"_We_ have a reservation," I started slowly, pulling out the small slip of paper Sugar had given me and glancing down at it. "I think?"

"What's the name, sweet cheeks?" April asked, setting down her magazine and sitting up properly. She splayed her hands on the desk for a moment while her head wobbled and she tried to catch her balance. "You ever sit up too quickly?" she asked with an infectious smile, and I couldn't help but smile in amusement.

_This woman is _tanked_. _

"Uh- Pierce," I said, feeling my heartbeat pound again at Brittany's official surname.

"Pierce," April repeated, nodding over-exaggeratingly. She typed it into the computer. Slooowly. As in, she used one finger, and stared closely at the keys. It took her about twenty seconds to find each letter, and her eyes focused in and out while her head wobbled. I thought her mutter something about _i before e_, but it was hard to tell with all the slurring. I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head, making plans to murder Sugar in her sleep as _I Heard it Through the Grapevine_ started up.

"Okay, got it," April said with a sloppy, confident nod. She looked up, surprised to see me. "What did you say the name was, again?"

* * *

I grumbled the whole way up to our room, which made Brittany giggle. Really I was just thankful to have a distraction from the fact that I was currently unlocking the door to a hotel room where I was going to consummate my marriage with Brittany. Or, well, as close to consummate as possible.

The room itself was actually extremely nice. It was more like a suite, with a decent-sized kitchenette, a couch, a huge flatscreen TV, and a king-sized, four-poster bed with a canopy, decked out in purples and creams. I couldn't even believe canopies still existed, to be honest. I kicked off my shoes at the door and was impressed with the soft plushness of the carpet beneath my feet. On top of the counter was a gift basket containing- what else- a box of wine and two wine glasses. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the irony.

When Brittany came up behind me, sliding her arms around my waist, I felt my nerves hit me. She pressed her lips softly to the side of my neck, and I shivered as her hands splayed on my hips, pulling me tightly against her. I moaned when she started sucking on the base of my neck, and bit my lip, pulling away and out of her arms.

She gave me a puzzled look, and I took a deep breath.

"Britt," I squeaked. I cleared my throat. "Uh- I feel- kinda gross," I admitted. "Would you mind waiting while I take a quick shower?"

Brittany smiled. "Do you want me to take one with you?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, no- I'm only going to be a minute. Make yourself comfortable, okay?" At her nod, I moved to the suitcase and pulled out my toiletry bag and my nightgown that I'd packed specifically for tonight, and disappeared into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and listened to my frantically pounding heart. My pulse was racing, and I closed my eyes and counted to ten, willing myself to calm down. I turned on the shower and undressed quickly, stepping under the spray of hot water and letting it ease my anxiety away; Brittany was waiting for me. My wife was waiting for me.

I washed quickly, and when I was done and dressed in the silky fabric of my short nightdress, I opened the door and stepped out into the room.

It was dark, with only a very low lamp turned on in the corner, casting an ethereal glow over the room. Brittany was partially shadowed, but she sat calmly on the edge of the bed, and I noticed right away that she'd also changed. She was wearing a pink negligee and I smiled slightly as I approached her, smoothing hands over her bare thighs.

"Where did you get this?" I asked, fingering the edge of the garment.

Brittany shrugged. "Sugar. She said I'd need it."

At Brittany's words I felt a sudden spike of annoyance. "You know, I'm getting really tired of her living out her creepy _ship_ fantasies through us," I babbled nervously. "It's bad enough she basically planned our entire wedding and honeymoon, but then…" I trailed off as Brittany brought my hand to her mouth and slowly kissed over my knuckles, one by one. My breath hitched; my chest suddenly felt tight. I looked into Brittany's blue eyes and licked my lips, feeling my pulse quicken at Brittany's tender, loving action.

I leaned forward, bending down to press my lips sweetly to Brittany's. She opened her mouth against mine and we kissed slowly, sensually, exploring each other. I sucked on her bottom lip, loving the way I could hear her breathing pick up. All of me ached to be close to her. The walls that had been built up between us over the past few days came crashing down as I reached up to tangle my fingers in her blonde hair. Brittany kissed me tenderly and I felt like I could melt.

I hissed lowly when her warm palms slid under my nightgown and over my bare stomach, and I trembled in response. It had been so long since she'd touched me, and every caress now was exemplified a million times because of it. I kissed Brittany harder, sloppier, curving my tongue around hers and stroking into her warm, wet mouth as her palms burned a trail around my hips and to my lower back, pulling me forward so that I was forced to climb onto the bed.

Brittany wriggled back so that we were centered in the middle of the mattress, and laid down, and I paused a moment, running a hand through my hair and hovering over her to drink in the sight of her. Her blonde hair was splayed across the pillow. The comforter was a royal purple, and it made Brittany's pale skin stand out that much more as she laid there, gazing up at me, her blue eyes trusting, loving.

Slowly, Brittany reached up and cupped my face, and I leaned into her touch, shaking with how powerful my emotions were. My heart was pounding so hard I was pretty certain April could hear it downstairs in the lobby. Brittany traced her fingertips along my jaw, mapping out my face, and I slid my eyes closed, focusing on her touch. Finally, she tugged gently, guiding my face down to hers and joining our lips in a searing kiss that left me breathless. Brittany's hands slid down my body before smoothing over my back and down to my hips, and I let my weight rest on top of her as we kissed for long, intense moments. I let my elbows rest above Brittany's shoulders and slid my hands beneath her to cradle her head, massaging the back of it and affectionately tugging on her hair. She moaned lowly into my mouth and the sound made my pulse throb between my legs. I was already so turned on just from kissing; there's no way I was going to last very long.

Brittany held me tightly to her body, pressed her hands into my lower back to push my hips against hers. Being so completely flush against her felt like heaven and hell at the same time. I reveled in the feeling of being so close, but still ached to be closer, even though it was physically impossible. The need to touch her skin was slowly taking over my mind, and as Brittany teasingly nibbled my lip, I shifted and brought my left hand down, slipping it under her pink nightgown and teasing fingertips over her toned, quivering stomach. Her skin was hot under my hand as I stroked her, and I swallowed as I realized she wasn't wearing anything underneath the negligee.

I shifted again, sitting up to make it easier to push the silky fabric up over her hips, over her naked stomach, over her perfect breasts- and then my breath caught in my throat. Brittany lifted up slightly so I could remove the fabric the rest of the way, and then shook her hair out a little, looking stunning and so, so sexy. I ran my palms from her shoulders, down her chest to her stomach and over her hips, my eyes following their slow path. Beneath me, Brittany panted, her eyes dark, her body arching into my touch.

"You're beautiful," I breathed. "You're so, so beautiful, Brittany."

"Santana," Brittany whispered, her voice sounding slightly choked. It reassured me that she was in the moment with me, that she was feeling everything I was feeling, that the intimacy and deep connection we were sharing was not lost by her.

Our eyes met, and then we were kissing again, and then Brittany's hands worked their way under my own nightgown, pushing it up over my head. Once it was off, Brittany sat up and wrapped her arms around me, and our bodies surged together, our skin warm and smooth, and I couldn't help but let out a moan at the intense feeling. Brittany sucked on my neck and pulled at my hips, and I gasped for air, trying to get a handle on my thoughts. I felt like I might explode from emotion and from how I was feeling.

Brittany fell back onto the bed, pulling me with her, and she rolled us so that she was on top. She slipped her thigh between my legs to press against me, and my mouth never left hers as she rocked against me, taking me with her. I was already so wet against her thigh, I slid easily on her skin, and she was even more so against mine. We kissed and kissed; Brittany's grip tightened in my hair, her tongue grew more aggressive, she bit at my lower lip, sucked at it, drove me crazy. I was already shaking, already feeling my orgasm building. My arousal made Brittany's thigh slick against me as I rocked my hips up, but I didn't want it to be over so soon- or at least, not like this.

"Wait," I panted, tugging her back gently. "Brittany, wait-"

Brittany pulled back, out of breath, searching my face for why I had stopped. Lovingly, I reached up and guided her down to the bed beside me, then moved to straddle her. I swallowed as I gripped her thigh and lifted it over mine, then slid my palm up the smooth, pale skin, feeling the muscles tense beneath me touch. I hooked my other leg over hers and took a slow deep breath before I brought our centers together for the first time.

Brittany let out a loud, sharp gasp at the feeling; her hand shot out to grab onto me, and I didn't hesitate to lock our fingers together and press her hand to the bed as I began to roll my hips. It felt- oh, fuck, how do I even describe how it felt? _Amazing_. Brittany was so warm and slippery against me, and I felt like I was surrounded in her. Her grip on my hand was nearly painful, and she was struggling to breathe, the whimpers and moans tumbling from her lips loud and unrestrained. Her eyes were so dark and focused on mine, and I loved the way she tilted her hips, the way she bucked her hips up to meet my thrusts. Her free hand gripped my thigh and I bit my lip.

"So beautiful," I gasped again. I squeezed my eyes shut for a brief moment, trying to concentrate on not falling apart so quickly, but all I could feel was the _pleasure_- all I could feel was the way Brittany felt against me, so warm and wet and soft and hard-

"Britt-" I was shaking. It was too much, it was all too much-

"Santana-" she choked, and the way she said my name threatened to break me; I felt her fingers curl under my chin, gently lifting my head. "Look at me," she panted.

I locked eyes with her- she had the beginnings of tears in hers- and then I felt myself falling into her gaze; there was no other way to describe it. It was the same feeling I felt that time she came to my room, back when we were first becoming friends; when she tried to share her memories with me, only this time, I wasn't drowning. I was _falling_.

I fell into her eyes and it intensified- _everything_. Her free hand slid over my hips, up my side, raked up my back- her other hand clenched mine so tightly against the sheets it was the only thing keeping me grounded, and I felt like I was going to explode apart from feeling too much. It was like I could feel her fingers, but also feel what _I_ felt like under her fingers simultaneously- like I was inside her mind, feeling what she felt, and combined with my own pleasure it was just too much-

"Britt," I barely got out in a breathless whimper. I was so close, I couldn't hold on- "Brittany-"

She brought my face closer, bringing our foreheads together, maintaining our intense eye contact. A tear spilled from her eye and I quickly reached up and thumbed it away before moving my hand to cradle her neck, holding her close, holding on for dear life. I was going to shake apart- my whole body was trembling.

And then Brittany sobbed with emotion, and her body arched up and locked, frozen, and her eyes- her damn eyes-

I couldn't even cry out; it was too intense. All of my muscles tensed and froze and locked so tight they were vibrating with the strain, like they just couldn't handle it as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over me, through me. My hand held Brittany's so hard I couldn't feel either of them anymore. All I could feel was the pleasure, was Brittany's pleasure. All I could feel was Brittany.

It went on forever, and I didn't mind; when the shocks subsided I collapsed like a stringless puppet onto Brittany's chest, gasping. Brittany hugged me tightly and ran her fingers through my hair, and it took me a few moments to realize she was crying.

I looked up at her with concern, but she was smiling at me. She reached up to wipe at her eyes and then, as if to answer my silent question, she looked meaningfully at the bedside clock.

And everything in me froze.

* * *

**I was going to continue this a little further, but I didn't want the chapter to end on a sad note again. There's obviously a little more angst coming up, as Santana reveals that she will, in fact, be fighting to Brittany; and then we're there- FINAL BATTLE. **

**For those wondering, the next chapter will end on an intense note, so it's going to take me a little longer to put out because I would like to have most of the final chapter written so that you guys don't have to wait so long for the resolution. **

**That being said, I'm still going to try and have them both up soon, so, we shall see. **

**Review if you would like to. If not, that's okay. I'll catch you next time! 8)~**


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